


Saving the World and Saving this Relationship

by Kereea



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Amnesia, Champions Still Alive, Comedy, Drama, Flashbacks, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2018-12-21 17:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11949111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: Link must rescue the Champions from the Blights that consumed them in order to control the Divine Beasts. He also really needs to try and get his memories back, since the scraps he has are driving him nuts.Meanwhile, Revali takes a serious blow to his pride and his heart when he realizes Link barely knows who he is.





	1. The Fall

 Revali made it to Medoh fairly easily, all things considered. Being able to simply bypass the appearing monsters and shoot them from the sky meant his trip home had probably been the easiest of the Champions’ and he meant to make use of that timing. The sooner even one of them started hitting Ganon from within the Divine Beasts, the better. Might give Link an early opening. Hell, for all they knew Ganon taking a hit might wake up Zelda’s stupidly-sleeping magic powers.

 He landed on Medoh’s back and quickly had it change its flightpath so he could better aim at the castle. The main cannon was in the beak, so he needed to have the head aimed right. At least Ganon was content to make a huge target of himself with that swirling cloud of disgusting darkness.

 Revali didn’t mind trick shots, but an easy target was always preferable in a fight.

 “Let’s see how much you like this…” he mused as he brought the cannon online. He focused so he could see as if his eyes were the ones on Medoh’s head, to aim the cannon properly.

 Wait…something was…those were the guardians. What were they doing?

 Ganon must have done something. Well, all the more reason to take the shot now. That big floating boar’s head was an easy thing to aim at-

 Revali gasped as he was struck from behind, and knocked away from the console. He shot skyward even as he tried to get his bearings back and— _what_ was _that?_

 It looked like the stuff swirling around the castle only…solid…and fused with Sheikah tech.

 Oh. Like the guardians then. And this thing wanted Medoh.

 “Get off my beast!” Revali snapped, aiming a bomb arrow at the thing’s head. It simply vanished in a swirl of light and reappeared to the left. He wasn’t sure he’d have hit it even if it hadn’t moved, his vision was still fuzzy from the blow to the head.

 “Can’t run forever,” Revali said, aiming another arrow. He fired, but wheeled back as the thing somehow summoned a tornado and aimed it at him. Revali made for one of Medoh’s updraft vents, but the thing fired an energy beam from its eye and caught the edge of his wing, sending him crashing to the stones.

 “Not so fast!” Revali said, spinning as he stood in order to use his good wing to throw a boomerang he’d taken off a Lizalfos at the creature. It simply took the blow and aimed its arm at him, hitting him with a blast of what felt like compressed air and knocking him back again.

 Revali eyed the wing tips’ cannons. The distance was pretty far, but the defensive cannons could be directed inside if he told them to. He made a break around the monster and got back to the console, turning on the defenses to give himself some cover.

 There. Even if he couldn’t attack easily with one wing too injured to pull his bow, he could dodge around the deck and let the cannons pick this thing off for him. Simple.

 “Sorry, Princess, Hero, going to have to delay a bit,” he muttered as he ducked around the other side of the console to avoid another shot from the monster. He didn’t know quite how long the cannons could take but as long as he kept moving, then eventually this thing would fall.

 The monster screeched and summoned four strange machines from itself.

 Revali ducked behind another pillar only to take a hit anyway—oh. Those things were shot re-directors. Lovely. He threw another boomerang at one of them, knocking it down.

 Damn it. Two to go and he only had one more boomerang and a sword. He wasn’t a walking armory like Link! Nothing for it, he’d have to retrieve the other two boomerangs, and-

 A laser blast hit him in the back and he couldn’t…he couldn’t get up. He tried to pull himself forward, towards the console…maybe he could make Medoh dive at Ganon, or _something_.

 The monster drifted past him, going to the console itself.

 Revali coughed, “Are…are you actually trying to fly it? Don’t…make me…laugh…”

  The monster turned back to him.

 “You’re…not getting…my beast,” Revali hissed.

 The monster made a small motion with its hand before looking between Revali and the console.

 Ravali swallowed. So fair, it looked like Ganon’s little pet couldn’t control Medoh. But it also looked like it had an idea…

 It drifted closer to him, and he did not like the look in its eye. It looked like it was…thinking. It started dripping that stuff that was all over the castle and now Medoh, that solid darkness…

 “No, no!” Revali shrieked as it grabbed him by the front of his armor and pulled him in. “No, let me go!”

 He choked on the red-black ooze as it smothered him despite his panicked thrashing. He screamed at the solid hate fogged at his head and beat at his heart and-

 No. No, Medoh was turning around now, heading back toward—the village! No, no, no!

 It had him now.

 It could control Medoh now.

 He’d failed.

.o.o.o.

 “Why did Medoh stop?” Zelda asked as the great bird just hung in the air above Hyrule. “Link! Link, something’s wrong! Something’s wrong on Med…oh…”

 Link looked up from making sure the Lynel was dead to see Medoh’s bright blue marks turn pink and black and the bird began to bank, to turn back towards the Rito Village.

 “No,” Zelda whispered.

 “Revali!” Link said.

 “Oh no,” Zelda said. “No, no, no…first the guardians, now the Divine Beasts…no!”

 Link turned to see her looking at Death Mountain and swallowed. Rudania was stalled out on the side of the mountain. He couldn’t see its colors from here but Daruk should have been bringing it this way, not up the mountain-

 Rudania’s tail slammed into the mountainside and Death Mountain erupted.

  “What can we do, what can we do…” Zelda muttered.

 Link grabbed her arm and started running away from the castle. Whatever they were going to do, they were going to need to regroup first. Hateno and Kakariko Villages were both pretty defensible, as was Fort Hateno. They needed to regroup and figure out what to do. Purah might have some good ideas. Or Impa.

 For now, they just had to run.

.o.o.o.

 No matter what he did nothing could seem to get him out of this mess and bring Medoh back under his control. He’d seen several sunrises and sunsets, and didn’t know what was taking so long…had Ganon so fortified the castle that Link couldn’t reach him? Revali cursed as the creature choked him further.

 He wished he knew if Link was safe…

.o.o.o.

 They were almost there. Link swallowed as he and Zelda began to creep through the wet grass. They were so close to the fort, now, if they could just get past the last few guardians-!

 He heard the ominous beeping that signaled a laser locking on and quickly raised his shield for a parry. He managed to bounce the beam back right in the eye and attacked. The sword was almost useless now, so he had to keep reflecting the beam back again and again…

 The guardian fell the same time his shield broke, and he dropped to one knee.

 “Link, save yourself, go!” Zelda pleaded. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me! Run!”

 Link shook his head, drawing the sword again as another guardian approached. He couldn’t lose Zelda. They’d lost everyone else and he couldn’t lose Zelda too. They were both going to make it to Fort Hateno and they were going to stop this.

 The next guardian hung back, willing to just use its laser, and Link realized he couldn’t close the distance in time without leaving Zelda wide open. He tried to brace himself-

 “NO!”

 There was a bright light, and he didn’t remember anything else.

.o.o.o.

 Revali had no idea how long it had been since the Calamity. The Divine Beasts had fallen dormant within a couple of weeks of the ravaging of the continent, but he knew Ganon wasn’t defeated. He was still trapped in this…this thing, unable to move or exert enough will over Medoh to get it to fire on the castle, to do something other than just lay here in Hebra, often covered in snow and just…there.

 Link hadn’t defeated Ganon but something had stalled it. Revali didn’t know what.

 He didn’t know what had happened to Link at all. He hoped he was somehow all right.

 If he wasn’t…then this suspended torture would be even worse.

 After what felt like forever, Medoh began to hum. The monster roused itself and took control once more.

 Revali tried to fight back but it was a futile as it had been during the Calamity. Medoh took to the skies above the Rito Village. It looked so different now. Revali wondered just how long it had been. Medoh made it easy to look over all of Hyrule as it circled the village and…oh. Everything. Everything was in ruins.

 How long had it been?

 He watched Rudania making its way up Death Mountain, Naboris kicking up a sand and lightning storm in the Gerudo desert, and a torrent of rain begin over Zora’s Domain that could only be the work of Ruta.

 Great. Ganon had only let them sleep long enough to end the world later.

 Just…great.

 Something…something made him think it had been…a hundred years? He chuckled bitterly at the idea as he remembered quietly joking with Link about wanting to sleep that long after a hard day of training.

 Well…one hundred years…if Link hadn’t fallen to the Calamity, then he’d fallen to time by now if it was true.

 Revali wondered if it was too much to hope that hed get a chance to join him.

.o.o.o.

 Link looked out over the vast plateau, wondering just where the hell he was…or who he was. What that voice was. Any of it.

 He saw an old man down the hill. Maybe he knew something…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, none of the Champions are dead, yay! But it's going to take Link a while to get to Vah Medoh since he spent a while wandering without any clue where he was going.


	2. The Lake

Revali was really starting to get frustrated now. Medoh was just…circling. Circling and circling endlessly. True, that was better than firing on the village, but he could tell this had his tribe spooked and could not blame them for it. Some sort of moss had bloomed on Medoh’s back from the melted snow and the sunshine, making it look like a grassy ruin.

 He’d counted the sunsets. They were past the two month mark. If Ganon was going to do something, it clearly felt like taking its time.

.o.o.o.

 Link fell to his knees as the Lynel collapsed. That was one way to get shock arrows. Maybe he should have just run around here and grabbed ones off trees, then dove off the cliff into the reservoir…might have been easier…no way Lynels could swim…

 Oh well, he had a new shield, bow, and sword now in addition to the arrows. That was good. Just like it was good Hestu had found ways to upgrade his magical gear that held spare weapons. That was good too.

 He pulled out a nice hearty fruit mix and ate it. That felt better…

 Sidon had seemed so sure that Link would be able to do this easily. Link wondered if the person he was before losing his memories had somehow been some great slayer of Lynels or something. That had been nightmare of a fight for him.

 He had this vague memory of Sidon as a little thing, cheering as Mipha had tried to teach Link some spear techniques she found useful. The prince had been maybe knee-high then. That more than anything else made it clear how long it had really been. Link didn’t recall a young Impa and there was no older Zelda around to meet him, but Sidon?

 Sidon made it clear how much Link had missed.

 Not that Link could tell him that. The guy would probably try to apologize for growing up or something. Still, it was nice to have a friend who remembered him in this crazy place. Now, onto stopping the Divine Beast…

 He headed up to the peak, pulling a few more shock arrows out of a tree up there. He looked down, swallowed, and dove. As the wind whipped past him on the way down, something caught his memory.

.o.o.o.

_Link yelped as his handhold broke and he dropped._

_“You idiot!” someone yelped, and there were talons around his shoulders as he was plucked from the air and deposited on a ledge._

_“Sorry,” Link panted to his savior—a Rito, the Champion Rito._

_“You’d better be sorry!” the Rito squawked, feathers puffing up in annoyance. “Of all the ridiculous-”_

_Link had a feeling the Rito was only yelling because he was worried-_

.o.o.o.

 “Link! Link!”

 Link sputtered and came to as Sidon dragged him up onto the dock.

 “Are you all right?” Sidon asked frantically. “You looked like you were diving but suddenly you…stopped diving and started…falling.” He tapped his fingers together awkwardly.

 “I think a memory hit,” Link groaned.

 “Ah, yes, you do seem to lose reality for a few moments when that happens,” Sidon said, patting him on the back before blanching. “Link…do you know you’re bleeding back there?”

 “No,” Link admitted, fumbling in his bag for a potion. “…How bad?”

 “I’m not sure, I think the water washed away a lot of the blood…this tunic is quite good at not having it seep in, actually,” Sidon admitted, dipping a hand down into the reservoir and using the fin on his forearm to flick more water onto Link’s back.

 “We’ll have to wait for your healing potions to work before we do anything else,” Sidon said seriously.

 “All right,” Link agreed, drinking the potion and settling into a more comfortable position on the dock.

 “…What…what did you remember?” Sidon asked. “What did falling make you remember?”

 “A time I fell,” Link said. “A Rito caught me.”

 “Ah. Was he wearing a scarf that looked like your tunic?” Sidon asked.

 “Yes, I think it was the Rito Champion,” Link said. “I…I remember him from near Mt. Lanayru, near a gate. We were there when the Calmity hit, I remember…him flying…”

 “Yes, I remember Revali was very proud of his flying,” Sidon said. “I did not know him well, but I recall that quite firmly.”

 “Maybe…maybe I’ll know more when I eventually get to that Divine Beast,” Link said.

 “Maybe, my friend,” Sidon said.

.o.o.o.

 They waited in the rain for quite a while, Link stitching up the back of his tunic while Sidon monitored his wound.

 “I think that it’s about healed,” Sidon said. “We’ll need to hurry. I’m not sure how long my friends can cover for us.”

 Link nodded. Muzu was not going to be happy Sidon had tricked the location of the shock arrows out of him, or that Link and some of Sidon’s buddies had “borrowed” some Zora armor so Link could swim up waterfalls.  Dorephan had given his blessing that they try, but Muzu’s faction that blamed Link for Mipha’s fate were not happy at all.

 “All right then!” Sidon said, jumping into the water. “Let’s go!”

 Link tugged on the Zora armor, helm, and trousers and jumped on Sidon’s back. He decided to use Cryonis instead of wasting shock arrows on Ruta’s ice blocks. Sidon’s swerving and fast turns made it a little hard to aim at the ice, but overall it went pretty well and left the waterfalls wide open.

 Link eventually shot each of the four power modules and Ruta calmed.

 “We did it!” Sidon cheered, paddling over to Link as he floated down into the lake.

 “I’ll free Ruta,” Link said. “You wait here.”

 “Are you sure?” Sidon asked.

 Link nodded as he pulled himself onto a platform on Ruta’s side. Whatever took over Ruta and killed Mipha, he didn’t need it killing Sidon too. Hopefully it was specialized against a Zora and Link could stop it.  

 “Link!”

 Link paused. At first he thought it was Sidon, but Sidon wasn’t that soft-sounding. “Uh…”

 “It’s me, Mipha!”

 Link looked around. He didn’t see the woman form his memories.

 “I’m not…here. Per say,” Mipha said quickly. “Ganon’s monster has me. It absorbed me in order to take control of Ruta.”

 Oh…that sounded…confusing. Did that mean she was still alive?

 “The monster won’t come out unless you force its hand, it’s too busy trying to repair Ruta so it can resume the downpour,” Mipha said. “If you can activate the five control terminals before that, then you can meet it in the main control room and…hopefully, defeat it.”

 Link nodded, “All right. What do I need to know?”

.o.o.o.

 The storm above Zora’s Domain had stopped. Just like that, it was done. Ruta wasn’t rampaging anymore.

 Revali chuckled. So, something could bring the Divine Beasts down after all.

 Maybe…maybe this could end.

.o.o.o.

 “What can you tell me about the monster?” Link asked as he approached the main terminal. He’d activated all the others, climbed all over this giant stone elephant, and finally they were at the last step. He couldn’t afford to lose here.

 “It has power over water and ice, and fought with a trident twice the size of my own,” Mipha said. “It seemed to be made of lost technology along with Malice. I’m not sure what else could be of help.”

 “All right. I’ll work from there,” Link said. He stepped up to the terminal, only to be forced back as the monster shot out of it and attacked him.

 The Waterblight roared, raising a—yes indeed, that was a massive spear all right. Okay, his own spears weren’t going to be worth much, then. Sheild and sword it was…

 Hmm. It had been able to absorb Mipha, so maybe it was somehow Zora-like itself.

 Link pulled out the Lynel’s bow. He pulled back a shock arrow, only to see it multiply, a phantom arrow appearing at either side of it.

 Triple shot? No wonder that thing had hit so hard when it attacked from range. Oh well, it was his now.

 Link unloaded arrow after arrow into the Waterblight, only to gasp and lose his footing as it suddenly flooded the room. He quickly swam to a platform and pulled himself up as it reformed on the ceiling above him.

 Link glared and fired more shock arrows.

 When the Waterblight shrieked again, he paused. It seemed to almost be coming apart at the seams now, Malice flying about as it flung its arms and screamed and-

 Mipha fell out of its chest, a loud wet smack echoing as she landed on one of the platforms. Link hurried over to her even as the Blight finally dissolved.

 “…Link,” Mipha said.

 “Hi,” Link replied. “Um…you’re…alive…then?”

 “Seems like it,” Mipha panted. “Though I seem to have retained my injuries from the battle. I mean no offense, but you’re in little better state. I should be able to heal us after I’ve…caught my breath…”

 “Is it just me or is the water rising?” Link asked.

 “Ruta’s sinking!” Mipha said, horrified. “Nothing’s controlling her now!”

 She dover into the water and swan over to the command console, which lit up in blue as Mipha regained control of Vah Ruta.

 “Can you get her onto land? So we can leave?” Link asked, slipping into the now-receding water to swim over.

 “There are shallows near Ja’Abu Ridge, if I can just steer her there,” Mipha said. Link pulled himself out and she helped him up. “Though it will be a longer swim back for us, that’s on the opposite side of the reservoir from Zora’s Domain.”

 “I’m sure Sidon can help,” Link said.

 “Sidon!” Mipha gasped. “Was he the one helping you swim around Ruta?”

 “Yeah,” Link said. “…He got big.” Link softly chuckled at his own phrasing. 

 “Well, it’s been…what, a hundred years?” Mipha asked as Ruta jolted slightly as the beast stopped swimming and started walking in the shallows. “Oh my…well, I hope he comes…I’ll be able to heal us a little but…I’m quite tired…”

 “LINK!”

 Link chuckled and gestured outside. He and Mipha leaned on each other to reach an exit, where a paddling Sidon waited in the shallows.

 “Mipha?” Sidon asked before leaping out of the water to land beside and tower over them

 “Link was right…you’re a lot taller,” Mipha chuckled.

 “All the better to carry you both home, sister,” Sidon said gently, picking her and Link up. “All the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little light on Revali, as is the next one. To be fair, once he enters proper he's the more dominant POV. 
> 
> Also this is how I beat Waterblight Ganon: crazy shock arrow barrage.
> 
> In this universe it was Revali instead of Mipha who had the crush, hence there not being special-made Zora Armor to convince Muzu. Link and Mipha were besties instead. 
> 
> It's been a little over two months since Link woke up. While you'll get more fill-in as to what he's been up to later, he's mostly been doing shrines and wandering trying to find the memory pictures until he found Sidon a couple weeks ago.
> 
> Link does talk in this fic due to his amnesia wiping the memories of reasons for not doing it in he past. He still understands--and sometimes uses--sign, and you'll see his memories effect on his verbosity.


	3. The Moon

 Link groaned as he woke up.

 “Ah, awake at last!”

 Link chuckled. Classic Sidon.

 Wait. Sidon. Mipha. Vah Ruta.

 He went to sit up, only to hiss as his injuries protested and he ended up flopping back.

 “Careful!” Sidon scolded. “Neither of you came out of Ruta in particularly good shape!”

  “Mipha?” Link asked.

 “Recovering,” Sidon said. “I am so…so very grateful you brought her back to us, Link.”

 Link grinned and nodded, rubbing the back of his head. “So…how long was I out?”

 “Not long. It’s only morning,” Sidon said. “I think you should be done recovering fairly quickly, especially since-”

 “Oh, you put him in your room!” Mipha said as she came in the door.

 “-my sister is determined to finish things up,” Sidon said before grinning at Mipha. “It seemed more private than a bed at the inn, sister.”

 “Well, I suppose you are right,” Mipha said, hoping up on the bed beside her brother to take a look at Link’s injuries. “These don’t look too bad, so I should be able to heal them very quickly.”

 “Thank you,” Link said.

 “You’re very welcome. I must say, you’ve been quie chatty these last few days,” Mipha said.

 Link and Sidon glanced at each other. Sidon tapped his fingers together, “Ah, yes. We had not gotten to that yet, it seems. Ah, sister. The restorative sleep used to heal Link over the course of a hundred years…also wiped his memory.”

 “Oh my goodness,” Mipha said. “You do not remember anything at all?”

 Link shrugged, “Some if it’s been coming back. When I wander around sometimes I see things and I am…reminded…”

 “Of course, then there’s the trouble that he goes into a trance for a few moments. Which can be a problem if, say, he is diving off Shatterback Point when he has a flashback,” Sidon said.

 “Yes, Sidon, thank you,” Link muttered, embarrassed.

 “I will admit, mental trauma is not something I have any healing expertise with,” Mipha admitted. “But if your memories are returning, then that is a good thing. Do you remember the other champions? Princess Zelda?”

 Link waggled his hand in the air, “Zelda a little more. I didn’t know any of the rest of your names until Sidon told me yours and, um, Revali’s. The king’s ghost was only so helpful, and then he left.”

 “Oh my,” Mipha said. “King Roahm’s ghost?”

 “He appeared to me when I left the Shrine of Resurrection,” Link said. “Pretended to just be a helpful old man until he thought I could handle more, then said his bit and left.”

 “I wasn’t sure whether to say anything,” Sidon said. “But…sister, I recall you and the other champions and Link being rather…cool, on the subject of the Hylian King.”

 “We had our complaints,” Mipha said, slowly as if trying to make sure she was tactful. “I recall Zelda being rather…jealous, of me and my relationship with my father. And of my ease with magic. She got over it but it was a block early on. She was the same with you, Link.”

 “I have some memories of her being rather sharp, yes,” Link muttered. “And rather sad. She couldn’t do it, could she? Until after the fall?”

 “I suppose not, if what you told our father is true and she somehow holds Ganon in the castle now,” Mipha said. “I wish we knew why but…I always had a…suspicion…not to speak ill of the dead, but I felt the Hylian King, in pressuring her too much and not allowing her to develop as she would rather…stifled her abilities to where they could only activate under extreme pressure…”

 “Like the pressure of the Calamity?” Sidon asked. Mipha nodded, and Link sighed as they all hung their heads.

“I think there’s a lot of work to do, and we need to figure out what comes next,” Link said. “We should probably speak to your father about it.”

.o.o.o.

 Muzu spent several minutes apologizing to and thanking Link on the way to the throne room. Mipha seemed to find it amusing, so Link endured. She probably needed something funny after a hundred years trapped in Vah Ruta only to be freed into a world of disasters.

 The king cleared the court except for himself and the four of them, and they began to try and plan out what to do next. Link of course had the other Divine Beasts on his mind, but the king raised a point no one had let cross their minds yet.

 “Do we know what will happen at the Blood Moon inside Vah Ruta?” King Dorephan asked.

 Link, Sidon, and Muzu winced. They really hadn’t thought of that.

 “The Blood Moon?” Mipha asked, looking confused.

 “Ah, you probably did not notice while trapped inside Vah Ruta,” Sidon said, worried. “A Blood Moon is when the Calamity’s Malice grows in power. The moon turns red and all destroyed monsters are…revived.”

 “Including, perhaps…the monster in Vah Ruta?” Mipha asked, eyes going wide as she pulled a fist towards her heart in worry.

 “It’s possible,” Link admitted. They hadn’t even thought about that at all and…if Ruta started rampaging again, there was no telling how much more rain the reservoir could take…

 “I want a controlled release of water from the reservoir,” Dorephan said to Muzu. “As much as can be handled. And as many repairs done to the damn as possible before the next blood moon.”

 “Do we know when it will be?” Sidon asked.

 “We have four or five days, by the latest divinations,” Muzu said. “It will not be time for much, but with the decreased rain…after a day or two we may be able to release more into the Zora River to drain into the wetlands, but if we do it too quickly we shall risk worse flooding than has already occurred.”

“Already occurred?” Mipha asked.

 “There have been…complications stemming from almost two months of nonstop rain,” Sidon admitted. “A…lot of complications.”

 “Everything from Inogo Bridge to the Great Zora Bridge became nearly impassible by foot and infested with monsters,” Dorephan said. “Many of whom wielded electricity. Unless you remained underwater for much of the journey, and thus unseen, it was nearly impassable. Reagah the Goron has been trapped here for months and the Hylians other than Link only arrived through stealth or luck.”

 “I was mostly stealth too,” Link admitted.

 “Was anyone harmed?” Mipha asked.

 “Several,” Dorephan said. “And several others missing. We should also try to take the time we have before the Blood Moon to search for them.”

 “This will take great organization,” Muzu said, pulling out a stone slate and an inky reed. “Still, with the joy at Lady Mipha’s most wondrous return, we will likely have enough goodwill that the people will not mind the extra work.”

 “I’ll try to clear out that Lizalfos nest, the one with the shock arrows,” Link said. “Getting more will be good if the Blight comes back.”

 “I’ll take charge of the search parties,” Mipha said. “The missing will likely need treatment when we find them.”

 “I shall handle the dams with Muzu, then!” Sidon said, clapping Muzu on the back. He drew back when Muzu shot him a dirty look, since the clap made Muzu’s pen scratch across the slate. “Oops.”

 “And I shall maintain order here and organize the other bands of monster clearers,” Dorephan said. “Let us begin, then!”

.o.o.o.

 The divinations turned out to be slightly off, and it was six days before the rise of the Blood Moon.

 “Some of the tower guards have seen the moon already, and report it is red,” Muzu told he gathered heroes in the throne room.

 “Then we shall go to the reservoir and wait,” Mipha said.

 Link nodded, arming himself with a new thunderblade and his now-replenished shock arrows. After some consideration he passed some of the arrows to Reagah, the Goron who hung out in the general store. Reagah saluted and took up a silver bow to follow them. Mipha took her trident and Sidon his sword, and to their surprise Muzu armed himself with a bow and a handful of ice arrows. The group then made their way up to the East reservoir to wait.

 “I did not notice these blood moons before,” Mipha said. “How will we know when it happens?”

 “The Malice in the air grows thick,” Muzu said. “By midnight you nearly choke on its foul energy no matter where you are. And it raises slain beasts from the dead.”

 Link glanced up at Shatterback point. Of course the Lynel would be back before tonight was over…

 “We know it returns monsters, and reactivates Guardians that were not fully disassembled,” Sidon said. “But there is a chance that the scourge of Vah Ruta will operate on different rules.”

 “And if it doesn’t?” Mipha asked.

 “Then…then I’ll have to beat all the monsters in the Divine Beasts and Ganon between two Blood Moons,” Link said. The shrine teleports would be useful for that, if it came to it, but he _really_ hoped it didn’t.

 “Let us hope it does not come to that,” Sidon said. “It sounds…terribly stressful.”

 “Perhaps…” Muzu mused, “The Blights are specialized to the Champions. You could use your transport magic to put different Champions in different beasts to defeat the Blights, and then switch them back around to power their own beasts against the Calamity.”

 “That is a possibility,” Sidon agreed. “But we would need one more beast free…”

 “Urbosa would be good after she recovers, her lightning magic would make short work of the Waterblight,” Mipha said. At Link’s blank look she added, “Urbosa had some truly amazing lightly spells. I’ll tell you all about them later.”

 “We’re getting close to midnight,” Raegah noted uneasily ad they made their way around the edge of the reservoir to Ruta’s side.

 “Then it is good we are here,” Mipha said, activating the entrance and letting them step inside.

 “And here it comes,” Muzu sighed as the sky turned red.

 Link winced as Mipha’s breath caught at the thick Malice in the air. Now that he thought about it, the sheer amount of the stuff was very similar to the insides of the corrupted Divine Beast, and it made Ruta look taken-over all over again.

  _Link…Link_ …

 He glanced up at the moon through the opening in Ruta’s back. If Zelda had news, now would be good.

  _In his sealed state, Ganon cannot recreate the Blights that plague the Divine Beasts. They are safe from the Blood Moon_ …

 “Did you hear that?” Mipha asked Link as the Malice began to die down.

 Link nodded, “Did…you?”

 “She’s alive!” Mipha said. “Not that I’m saying you were lying or anything but hearing her myself…oh, she’s alive!”

 “You heard Princess Zelda?” Sidon asked.

 “She’s in the castle, holding Ganon back, remember? And she somehow can reach us!” Mipha said. “We can save her, just as I have been saved.”

 “We’ll need the other Divine Beasts first,” Link said. “So…I suppose the Gerudo are closest until I can afford Fireproof Elixir?”

 “Let me get Ruta into a better position to combat Ganon, and then I’ll tell you all I remember about Urbosa and Naboris,” Mipha said. “And Revali and Daruk of course. We can plan out where you’ll go next.”

.o.o.o.

 Revali watched Ruta make its way up the mountain. He barely dared hope, but it took its place, aiming dead at the remains of Hyrule Castle.

 Ruta was back where it should be. Maybe…maybe Medoh could be too.

 He struggled against the monster again. It wouldn’t let him free.

 Whatever had freed Ruta, either Mipha had been stronger than him or she’d had outside help. He’d better just start willing that outside help to get itself over her to help sooner rather than later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always think that in-universe Link's first Blood Moon after defeating a Divine Beast would be nerve-wracking since he'd be afraid the Blight would respawn like all the other monsters. 
> 
> Mipha's not going to go with Link since she wants to help fix all the trouble Ruta's rain caused before setting out. Really Medoh caused the least damage of he DBs since it just flew about and scared people, freeing up Revali to not need to stick around like Mipha. Ruta though...that is a LOT of rain and a lot of damage. Next time: we finally get more Revali as Link works to board Vah Medoh.


	4. The Sky

 His plan for Vah Noboris to be the next beast ended up having one small hole in it: he needed more bomb arrows after the Yiga Hideout ended up cleaning him out and Gerudo Town had used up their current supply in previous attempts against beast. So Link bid Riju farewell, shucked his women’s clothing, prepared some spicy food and warm elixirs, and headed north for the next-nearest makers of bomb arrows—the Rito.

 Link had to admit, something felt… _right_ as he approached the northwestern village and a chill started to seep into his bones. Way, way too much of a chill, in fact. He quickly downed a dish of chili peppers and hoped to buy warmer clothes in the village.

.o.o.o.

 Revali really hoped those warriors who’d gotten away were all right. They were a little crazy, trying to bring Medoh down like that. Still, the plan had been sensible even if it had led to four deaths. Disabling the four laser cannons from the outside with bombs would lead to the shield dropping. Of course, then they would have needed to find a way to interact with the terminals and goodness only knew what they would do against the monster that had beaten Revali…

 Of course, multiple attackers might have a better chance…hmm.

 Medoh had started circling slightly closer to the village and occasionally letting out piecing cries as it banked. Revali was getting worried it was eventually going to slam itself into the central pillar and bring everything down.

.o.o.o.

 Link shook himself out of the memory seeing Revali’s Landing had brought him. So Revali had been able to be a jerk. Well, so had Zelda, going by the memory he’d remembered near the shrine up the hills from the village.

 He shrugged off Saki’s concerns and went to find somewhere private to think.

 He obviously wasn’t remembering his memories in any kind of order. The one up the hill must have been earlier in his and Zelda’s relationship. She hadn’t wanted him remotely around her at all…

 Seeing Riju with the Thunder Helm, he’d remembered a time on Naboris where he’d caught up to Zelda when she was resting. Obviously at some point in their relationship as princess and knight she’d had a serious habit of ditching him. Which was quite rude. But later memories, in the field and by the horse statue, she seemed to have warmed somewhat. And at the Spring of Power and that day in the rain she’d seemed to confide in him…

 Similarly, Revali hadn’t seemed quite so obnoxious near the gate in East Lanayru…and that other memory he’d recalled in Hyrule field, on top of Mount Daphnes where he would just barely see Vah Medoh in the distance…when he’d remembered everything going wrong and feeling something awful in his gut as the bird turned from blue to magenta. How he’d said Revali’s name out loud when he’d never heard himself speak in the memories…

 And the falling memory…Revali had been worried. Very worried. For Link.

 Something more was there, but he didn’t know it. Maybe Revali could tell Link himself, when Link saved him.

.o.o.o.

 Teba proved to be an ornery man, but a man of his word. The Rito agreed to Link’s help as soon as Link could collect enough bomb arrows and a full Snowquill set of armor to keep out the cold.

 Link was rather annoyed at the latter, until he found the Great Fairy near the Tabantha Tower to strengthen the armor’s protection abilities. He still would rather have ditched the tunic for his blue Champion’s one, but that high up in the air he had to concede to Teba’s temperature thoughts. Maybe it would be warmer on Medoh itself.

 He also took Teba’s spare armor from Saki to the fairy for strengthening. He had to kill a lot of Stal for it but it would be worth it to keep Teba alive. Teba cursed a rather nice blue streak upon finding out how close the fairy had been and how she had only needed 500 rupees to be freed to improve armor. His whole group could have had added magical protection if they had just gotten to the tower and looked for the bud, but then no one knew what the buds meant anymore so Link wasn’t so sure of how much that would have really helped.

 It had put Teba in a foul mood for the rest of the night and Link had instead gone to Harth, to ask for him to watch the village shrine. If Link or Teba was too injured in the fight, he’d have to teleport them and Revali back to the shrine. Harth promised to have help waiting.

 With that, Link climbed the central pillar to watch Medoh as night fell.

 As the moon rose, he remembered something.

.o.o.o.

_“Amazing, isn’t it?” Revali asked as he leaned against what looked like the main control console._

_Link grinned and nodded, signing that_ We could use it to get anywhere in Hyrule _._

_Revali’s feathers fluffed in annoyance, “Vah Medoh is an ancient creation of marvelous technology and wonder. It is_ not _some beast of burden you can use to traipse across the continent with.”_

_Link chuckled, shaking his head._

_“Don’t make fun of me!” Revali complained._

_Link just smiled at him._

_Revali folded his wings and sulked. Somehow Link knew it wasn’t real anger at him, and felt only amusement at the Rito Champion’s histrionics._

_“But yes. I think we could make it from Hebra to Necluda in, what, half a day?” Revali mused._

_Link laughed out loud this time. Revali scoffed, but he was smiling._

.o.o.o.

 “So, you ready?” Teba asked.

 Link nodded, “I’ve got some defense potions. We should probably take them before we go.”

 “Good idea,” Teba said. “…Sure this works for Rito?”

 “I bought it in your village,” Link said, shrugging. “Shopkeeper thought so.”

 “We’ll go with it,” Teba said, downing the potion as Link drank his. “All right. Here’s the plan for getting up there. We’re going to fly up to the small mountain directly to the northwest and watch Medoh. As soon as it starts passing us as it circles, I’ll take off with you on my back to tail it. Its sensors from behind don’t seem to be as good until you get within canon range.”

 “We we’re sneaking up on it?” Link said.

 “Right,” Teba said. “I’ll get us a decent distance above it, then you jump off. Don’t touch the barrier, but drift down and shoot the cannons. The updrafts from the currents that high up should help you stay up. Meanwhile, I’ll keep the cannons busy.”

 “How many cannons can track at once?” Link asked.

 “There are four, one on the beak, one on each wingtip, and one on the tail,” Teba said, grabbing a stick to draw things out in the snow. “They all can rotate. If you’re directly in front of one on the wings, I’d say the adjacent two can probably see you, and if you’re total above Medoh there’s a chance of all of them seeing. Safe zone, for lack of a better term, seemed to be in the space between two cannons, since then they’re the only two that can see you at a time. Medoh _is_ bird shaped, so the wings sticking out does give some cover from the head and tail cannons.”

 “If the lasers are like the ones from Guardians, then you get a little warning?” Link asked.

 “Right, there’s a second after they lock on before they fire. Harth and I got away by taking advantage of that and just freefalling before they could hit us,” Teba said. “…Given you can’t fly and use a glider, I’m pretty sure you know how freefalling works.”

 “Yep,” Link said. “Well, let’s get going.”

.o.o.o.

 Something exploding shook Revali out of his boredom.

 Oh. People were attacking the cannons again. Well, A for effort, at the very least…

 Another two explosions and the cannon on the tail went out. Well then, that was faster than last time. The warriors had only gotten two total then and it had taken them quite a while.

 Maybe they’d brought more people? Revali couldn’t see anything not in contact with Medoh itself—which for the moment was a disturbingly large amount of solidified-evil goop, how one solidified evil he didn’t know but that was the Calamity for you—or visible from the bird’s eyes.

 Though he did seem to be able to tell which cannons were active and which ones were still working…

 Whoever was attacking had moved to the left wing, but they were dealing with both its cannon and the one on the head so they must have moved a little forward to do so. Revali focus in order to see what Medoh saw in this situation.

 Hm. One of the warriors from last time seemed to be drawing fire from the head cannon as someone else landed the final blow on the left wing, bringing it down.

 That was two. They were making excellent progress!

 The Rito Warrior swung around closer to the head as their companion caught an updraft on a— _a paraglider?_ The idiot brought a _Hylian_ along for this? What on earth was he thinking, this was the most-

 Revali’s brain about short-circuited as he Hylian let go of the glider to drop and fire arrows slightly to the left of Medoh’s head, aiming for the cannon.

 That was Link.

  _That was Link_.

 Revali would know him anywhere. The idiot missed one shot and had to use his glider to get back up before the cannon got him but— _Link? Here? How?_

 Link managed to correct and with the Rio who was with him drawing fire, destroyed the third cannon.

 That meant there was only one left.

 That was better than before.

 However Link was here, however he was here a hundred years later, he’d come. Somehow.

 Was he what stopped Ruta? Revali didn’t know but-

 Last cannon. The last cannon was out. The shield was down.

 Well then. Time to see if he could talk, instead of just seeing and sensing.

.o.o.o.

 Link watched Teba fly off, struggling. He hoped Teba made it back to the village all right. Link would go with him, but he was worried the shield would reform if he didn’t get on Medoh quickly enough.

 Huh. The Divine Beast had grass on its back, or maybe moss. Link wondered how that had the time to grow. Ruta hadn’t grown any mold or algae in the lake…

 “Well, well, well,” a disembodied voice mused as Link began to wander Medoh’s back. “There’s a sight for sore eyes…or I assume you would be, if I could see you instead of sensing you. I think making me wait a hundred years was a _little_ indulgent, don’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter was going kind of slowly and I thought i might end up combining it with the next one since it was seeming like it'd be short...nope! We'll be starting next time right where we left off here, with Revali greeting Link.


	5. The Archer

_“Well, well, well,” a disembodied voice mused as Link began to wander Medoh’s back. “There’s a sight for sore eyes…or I assume you would be, if I could see you instead of sensing you. I think making me wait a hundred years was a little indulgent, don’t you?”_

 “Sorry, Revali,” Link said, looking around for a way to get in.

 “Huh. Well, no hard feelings, of course,” Revali said, his voice losing some of its mocking edge and becoming warmer. Or at least it made Link feel warm, hearing it, for some reason.

 “Err,” Revali said after a few moments. “Are you…looking for a way in?”

 “Yes,” Link said.

 “I suppose it _has_ been a while,” Revali sighed.

 Link snorted. That was an understatement.

 “It’s behind you, if you to venture in. There are five terminals, but the first one should be the one that gives you a map.”

 Link nodded and ventured inside.

.o.o.o.

 Revali sighed as Link struggled with adjusting Medoh and solving the way to each terminal. Medoh was an open beast, and very easy to traverse. Well, easy for one with wings…where was that Rito that had been helping Link? They’d be useful right about now…

 He fought the urge to ask Link to hurry up. He may have been waiting a long time but Link was here to help him, risking life, limb, and falls off a massive stone bird for Revali’s sake.

 The least he could be was gracious.

 “You’re almost there,” he encouraged. “One more terminal.”

 Link adjusted Medoh again. Revali mentally sighed as the bird tilted once more. Link sometimes went back and forth three times before coming to a decision. He was clearly struggling with the puzzles.

 Revali wondered why the monster had yet to interfere. Here Link was, manipulating Medoh this way and that with his Slate, and nothing from the monster. When Link had broken the cannons, had he somehow weakened its control? No, Revali was still stuck as ever and he could feel the monster just…waiting.

 He wondered if it was channeling its energy into the repair of the cannons. Revali certainly hadn’t noticed it occurring, but he was a little occupied in trying to guide Link around and…ah. Final terminal.

 “Good,” he said. “Now you’ll just need the main control module. Be careful, there’s likely a fight waiting for you as well.”

 “I know,” Link said.

 “Well then, get ready,” Revali said.

.o.o.o.

 Link made his way back to the main control module on Medoh’s back. He drank a defensive elixir and pulled out a golden bow he’d gotten off a Blue Hinox on the way here. After some hesitation, he decided to go with bomb arrows. He could always get more…again.

 He went to activate the control module and like with Ruta, that was what it took to summon the Blight.

 The Windblight was huge, studier than Waterblight and taller besides. It had a cannon on one arm and hovered in the air—Link had been right to prepare his arrows.

 “Careful!” Revali warned. “That monster was my end a hundred years ago…but only because I was winging it.”

 Link groaned at the teasing tone. Something a little more helpful or concrete about the Windblight would have been nice. He dove behind a pillar and nocked an arrow. The thing had disappeared when he leaned out to aim and reappeared behind him. Link turned, but it made a damned tornado aim right for him and he had to get behind another pillar to avoid it.

 There had to be a better way to do this…ah! The vents!

 Link ran over to the vent and used his glider to get up closer to the Windblight. He used his bow to shoot a bomb arrow clean into its eye.

 The Windblight howled and fell to the ground. Link let himself drop and pulled out a guardian sword he’d gotten in a shrine to start hacking at the thing. He was dangerously close to the edge and for a moment there he thought he was about to slip off, but he managed to get several hits in before the Blight recovered.

 “You just need to hit it in the eye?” Revali whined. Realizing he’d missed a major weak spot had to be a massive blow to a master archer like him, Link assumed. He decided just a simple repeat would be enough to get he thing on the ground again and ran for the vents for another repeat.

 “Careful, it can summon help,” Revali warned as Link got the Windblight on the ground again and continued attacking.

 Sure enough it knocked him back with a ferocious screech and sent out four small sentries.

 “They can redirect its shots,” Revali said, sounding a little nervous. “It’s going to be impossible to dodge!”

 Link made for the vents again. If the sentries were only redirectors, then he only had to worry about them when the Blight was firing air. If he stunned it again, there would be no problem.

 He was knocked out of the air before he could aim, and dove behind a pillar as the Windblight charged a laser blast.

 “Got anything else?” he asked Revali, panting.

 “…This is about the part where I lost,” Revali admitted. “Though it sent the sentries out sooner for me. I’d go for the eye again if I were you.”

 Well he clearly couldn’t do it from the air anymore. Link glanced at his bomb arrows, sighed, and pulled out the Lynel bow. Three arrows for the price of one might help here…

 Link started just unloading on the Blight, wincing as some more air blasts were redirected at him. It seemed to have trouble using its laser on him through the smoke form the bomb arrows, so Link kept it up even as the sentries redirected wild air blasts from its arm cannon towards Link as he ran around the main control console for cover.

 The Windblight finally screamed a second time, clutching its head. Link let his shoulders relax as the Malice that made up its body began to drip away, falling to the stones before evaporating into nothing.

 The monster rocked forward, still shrieking, and from its dripping form fell the Champion Revali, worse for wear but clearly alive. Link smiled as he sat down from exhaustion.

.o.o.o.

 Revali gasped as all at once he was freed from the monster and rather ignobly dropped onto the stones of Medoh’s back. He coughed and sputtered as the goop that had choked him for a hundred years vanished like it had never been there at all.

 Then he froze at the realization of hacking on his wings and knees in front of Link.

 Revali sat up quickly—too quickly, it made his poor head spin—to see Link. See him not through Medoh’s eyes or sensing him moving about inside the Divine Beast, but see him right there in front of Revali.

 “Welcome back,” Link said, sounding exhausted. Revali could give him that, the monster Ganon had sent was quite powerful. It had beaten Revali, after all.

 Revali was too surprised at Link speaking, actually _speaking_ even though Revali could now see him to read sign, so easily to do anything but nod before he squawked in shock at Medoh tilting and quickly retook all the controls.

 “Land…” Link said before hastily downing a potion. Revali didn’t see any injuries on him beyond a singed arm from the laser but the air blasts from that monster had probably caused internal damage. Revali could still feel the bruises on his own kidneys.

 “What?” Revali asked.

 “Need to…land…so we can leave…shuts off when…you leave,” Link said. “Ruta did too.”

 Revali thanked the Goddess Link could stand to be verbose in a crisis. “Right, got it. I’ll just get us over there, that mountaintop’s more than flat enough.”

 “Good, that’s good,” Link grunted as he managed to pull out another healing elixir.

 “You’re chatty today,” Revali commented as he set Medoh’s course and the bird began to slowly dip.

 “Okay,” Link said, leaning against the console.

 “So glad to see me, are you?” Revali teased, grinning. He hurt all over but it didn’t matter. Not right now.

 “Glad you’re alive,” Link said.

 “Oh, you can do better than _that_ ,” Revali teased.

 He frowned at the look Link gave him. “Link? What’s wrong?”

 “Sorry. Fuzzy,” Link said.

 “Fuzzy?” Revali asked. Had Link knocked his head?

 “Maybe I’m remembering something…” Link said.

 “Remembering?” Revali asked. “What did you forget?”

 Link sighed and rubbed his head, looking embarrassed, “…Everything. When I was taken to the Shrine of Resurrection…I mean, that’s what the King said…”

 Revali choked. Link had forgotten him? Forgotten _everything_?

 Shrine of _Resurrection_? Link had _died_? And to come back he…forgot everything?

 Oh. _Oh_. Link hadn’t simply been having trouble with Medoh, he hadn’t remembered it at all. He hadn’t said anything to Revali not out of his usual brand of silence, but because he didn’t remember Revali enough to know what to say to him in any way.

 And Revali wasn’t even going to touch the part about the king.

 “Everything?” he asked, grasping. “But—you knew my name!”

 “Well, I’ve gotten back some memories,” Link said. “Along the way. And Mipha and Sidon were able to explain some of them, give me everyone’s names and…such…I...ah!” Link hissed and clutched his side.

 Revali sighed as they touched down, Medoh settling on the mountainside. Link was in no state to travel and frankly Revali doubted his ability to fly himself to the village for help, much less take Link along. And Goddess only knew what state Link might end up in if he left him alone.

 “Give me your bow and bomb arrows,” he said. “I’ll send a distress signal so the village can send someone for us.”

 “I can get us there,” Link said.

 “You’re barely in a state to stand!” Revali snapped, still smarting over the revelation that he’d been forgotten.

 “Can…transport. To shrines,” Link said. “Shrine in the village. Told…told Saki ‘n Harth to watch it.”

 “You can use the shrines now?” Revali asked, wide-eyed. Things really had changed while he’d been trapped.

 Link nodded, “Come on.”

 He pulled out the Slate and began working on it. Revali bent over to see what he was doing when Link’s free hand shot out and clamped onto Revali’s shoulder before the world around them vanished in a swirl of blue light.

  Revali watched the blue energy swirl around them and…home. He was home.

 “Link!”             

 Revali looked over to see a Rito woman with pink feathers rush up the steps before taking a short flight to the outcropping the shrine was on. “Link! Harth just got Teba back from the flight range, he said you went in alone and…”

 Her eyes widened as she finally noticed Revali.

 “Link needs medical treatment,” he said, unsure of what else someone was supposed to say to a member of their tribe a hundred years removed.

 “I think you both do,” she said shakily before calling downwards. “Harth! I need some help!”

 Harth was apparently a man, who was hard to see as he flew up to the outcropping due to his black feathers. They weren’t as nice as Revali’s or the ones on Link’s armor, no lovely blue sheen, just dull normal black.

 Revali supposed he shouldn’t be so critical, as Harth helped him stand while he-supposed-was-Saki gathered up the partly-unconscious Link and hurried back to what Revali assumed was her home. A white Rito—Revali recognized him as the one who had helped Link board Medoh—was already laid out on a mat and the woman quickly put Link onto a second prepared one before rolling out a third for Harth to help Revali onto.

 “Looks like you had fun,” the white Rito grunted.

 Link chuckled weakly. Revali scoffed.

 “So, he was right. You really were in there,” the white Rito added. “…I’m Teba.”

 “Revali,” Revali said curtly. Saki and Harth tended to Link’s injuries first, before Harth moved over to help him. “Don’t know how much good that will do. It’s been like that for a hundred years.”

 “Well it looks fresh enough…some of it, anyway,” Harth said as he helped Revali unbuckle his armor to get at the injuries better. “What happened up there?”

 “Talk later,” Link mumbled, tugging his blanket up. Saki tutted at him.

 “Good enough for me,” Teba said.

 Revali wanted to protest—he wanted to get as much as possible hashed out _now_ thank you very much—but since he was outvoted he would do the gracious thing and stay quiet.

 A hundred years. A hundred years and an amnesiac Link.

 The Goddess had better have a very, very good reason for this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And ANGST. Yeah, Revali's going to be providing a lot of drama and angst for a little while. No flashbacks this time, as the entire thing took place in the time it took to solve Medoh's puzzles and beat the Windblight. And yeah, that was how I ended up fighting him (only Link really did fall off in my game, thankfully it just put me back on the bird...) with the finale being a bomb arrow barrage. My wallet wept. 
> 
> Link's not to sure what's up with Revali right now, but we're going to have a lot of talking next time so that should clear things up. Also more Teba because he is a great foil to Revali.


	6. The Talks

 Revali sighed as he was woken up by Saki coming in to change Link and Teba’s bandages. Revali waved her off—his didn’t need it yet and he didn’t feel like anyone touching him right now.

 “So,” he said to Link after Saki finally dragged little Tulin off his father and out of the house, “Just to recap, you died and got shoved in a resurrection shrine for a hundred years and that’s how you’re here?”

 Link nodded.

 Revali sighed, “And the Calamity…paused?”

 “Zelda’s holding it back somehow,” Link said and oh, right, Link talked a lot now. And apparently left off Zelda’s title. “She’s been holding it this whole time, magically.”

 “She’s holding it back?” Revali asked. “For a hundred years, she’s been…but her power, she could never use it!”

 Link shrugged. “I…don’t know. I remember her crying over not being able to use it but I…I don’t…”

 He looked at Teba as if seeking help and Teba shook his head, “Don’t look at me, hero. I’m still trying to wrap my head around you and the Champion still being alive after a hundred years.”

 “So, among the _many_ things you don’t remember, you really don’t recall how Zelda came to finally use her power?” Revali asked.

 Link shook his head sadly, “No. And the king’s ghost didn’t tell me, he just got me to active the towers and Great Plateau shrines and then pointed me at Kakariko.”

 “Wonderful,” Revali muttered, rolling over despite his injuries greatly protesting the move.

 Of _course,_ Zelda’s accursed power decided to only show itself when everyone else was dead. Why not? The poor princess must have had a wretched breakdown when it happened.

 Had everything they’d tried on their travels together been useless then?

 Had they been wrong?

 Had everything they’d done really been for nothing but Hyrule’s destruction?

.o.o.o.

 Link sighed. This had been easier with Mipha. Things with Revali felt more complicated. Link wished he could remember how they’d started getting along in the past. It probably would have helped things.

 “So you just woke up, wandered out of a shrine, and managed to activate all the towers in the world because of an old man prompting you to?” Teba asked.

 Link nodded, “I…he was the only other one there. And he promised me a way off the Great Plateau if I solved the other four shrines. I didn’t _have_ anything else.”

 “And the old guy…was the ghost of the king from a hundred years ago?” Teba asked.

 “Mm-hm,” Link agreed. “And once he told me that, told me who I was and to find Impa…he was gone.”

 “Prick.”

 Teba and Link both looked at Revali. He hadn’t turned back towards them but his feathers were ruffling in anger.

 “…You mean the king?” Link asked.

 Revali gave a long-suffering sigh. Teba clicked his beak slightly at the drama of it all as Revali said, “ _You_ may not have the memories to recall it, but King Rhoam wore out the goodwill of the Champions in short order, and the Hero’s even sooner.”

 Link frowned. In the handful of memories he had, things indicated he was loyal to King Rhoam, and Zelda had, at least initially, resented Link for following the king’s orders to protect her. And as the nameless old man, the king’s ghost had been kind, if a little annoyingly vague all the time. “I guess I don’t recall.”

 “He was a useless old man who didn’t know his own role in the story but still tried to make everyone else follow theirs,” Revali said. “You say you remember Zelda crying at the Spring of Power? _Why_ was she crying?”

 “She…couldn’t unlock her power,” Link said. “I said that.”

 Revali turned to give Link a sidelong glance, “You really are quite short on memories, hero.”

 “That hero just _freed_ you. It wouldn’t be too much to be grateful,” Teba said sternly.

 “I’m exceptionally grateful he managed to make it here with almost no clue of what he was doing and free me with the same,” Revali said. “That doesn’t mean I won’t be annoyed with the king manipulating a soldier who still can’t remember how much he hated his monarch.”

 “You don’t just get to say things like that and then turn away!” Link said, grabbing Revali’s shoulder to flip him back. Revali hissed and swatted at him.

 “Impatient little...” Revali hissed. “You. Hated. King. Rhoam. I always assumed it was because Rhoam often denigrated Zelda for not coming into her power when you so easily came into yours as you didn’t like being used as a cudgel against your friend. Or his _impatience_ and pressure on her complicating things for the _rest_ of us. Or that you got to see her weeping at every spring of the goddess all the damn time. I don’t know the whole story because you never told me. I _inferred_. But we all knew you hated him.”

 Link stared at Revali in shock. “I…he didn’t…”

 “Why would he tell you? He had things for you to do and telling you might have made you resistant,” Revali snorted. “Not sure anyone in Kakariko would have known to tell you…”

 “Impa didn’t,” Link admitted.

 “Huh. I wasn’t sure if she liked him much either but…well. You can ask her what her reasons were later, I suppose…Impa’s still alive,” Revali muttered, shaking his head. “Incredible. Purrah? Robbie?”

 “Both,” Link said. “Purrah’s in Hateno, Robbie’s in the far northeast in Akala.”

 “Huh. Wonder why…” Revali muttered. “Surprised Purrah didn’t say anything. The King annoyed her plenty by constantly pulling Zelda away from studying to pray and pray and pray.”

 “I don’t know. Maybe they thought the whole stopping the Calamity thing was more important?” Link suggested angrily. To be entirely fair to Impa, Robbie, and Purrah, it wasn’t like he’d thought to ask any of them about the king himself…he’d been focused on Zelda, and on trying to figure out who he himself was…

 “Hmph.” Revali pushed Link away and laid back down. “Whatever it was, you’re clearly out of your depth on the subject.”

 “Gee, thanks,” Link huffed.

 Teba rolled his eyes and made a gesture Link was pretty sure meant something like ‘just let it go’ and since Link agreed, he nodded. Fighting and arguing with Revali wouldn’t help either of them recover any sooner.  

.o.o.o.

 The next time Revali woke up, Link was gone and Teba was quietly tending to his bow, “Tell me I wasn’t out too long.”

 “Just a day,” Teba said.

 Revali began to take off his bandages and hissed as his bad wing still protested the movement a bit. Well. No flying on that for another day or two. Teba calmly turned arounf to give him some privacy that he gratefully to to change into some clean clothes and undamaged armor that had been left out for him.

 He was grateful for the armor. He disliked being without it, especially at a time like this.

 “Urgh,” Revali groaned as he finally got a good look at himself once he was dressed propely. “My feathers are a wreck! Why did no one tell me this?”

 “Oh, great, you’re a preener,” Teba sighed.

 Revali scowled at him, “I could sweep the floor with your tailfeathers, fledgling.”

 “I think I’ve got quite a few years on you, unless you’re just _really_ short,” Teba said. “What are you, fifteen?”

 Revali scowled deeper, “ _Twenty_.”

 “Okay maybe you are fully grown,” Teba said dryly. “Look, no one expects a guy who got spat out of a Malice monster to look his best, especially since you’ve had those wounds for a hundred years.”

 “…Spat out of a what?” Revali asked, looking up from preening his good wing.

 “Malice monster,” Teba said. “That’s what Link says took over the Divine Beasts, Avatars of the Calamity made of Malice merged with Sheikah gear.”

 “What is…Malice?” Revali asked.

 “Malice is…Malice,” Teba said. “Physical evidence of the Calamity’s corruption. The creepy pink and black stuff. With eyeballs and mouths that shoot monsters. Hurts if you touch it.”

 “That sounds disgusting, but yes, it was all over my Medoh,” Revali said. “Where’s Link gotten to, anyway?”

 “This one quintet of kids went missing. Link offered to go hunt them down for their mother since their father’s out being a wandering minstrel,” Teba said. “…We thought you weren’t going to be up until evening. You recovered faster than expected.”

 “I often exceed expectations,” Revali said, smirking.

 Teba sighed, “I see.”

 “…Was it just you and Harth? Getting away from Medoh?” Revali asked.

 “You knew we attacked it?” Teba asked.

 “I’m linked to Medoh. The…Malice Monster took control from me but I could still sense what was going on around it and see through its eyes,” Revali said. “I only saw two get away. Was that it?”

 “Yeah. That was it,” Teba said quietly. “That’s some of Aven’s old armor, he was short. So treat it well.”

 Revali assumed that meant Aven had been one of the ones to die. “I will, thank you. At least until mine can be repaired.”

 “Yeah, Link knows a lady,” Teba said, looking a bit annoyed. “Wish we would have known about her. Kayasa, I think?”

 “The great fairy?” Revali asked. “How on Hyrule did you not know about that?”

 “The fountains all closed up after the Calmity. People were looking for giant flowers, not thorny buds,” Teba huffed. “Plus it cost a thousand Rupees to open the darn thing.”

 “The Great Fairy Kayasa…needed _money_ …” Revali said slowly.

 “Welcome to post-Calamity Hyule, kid,” Teba said. “I’m going to go get some food. Link should be back by nightfall if you want to talk to him.

 “Whatever,” Revali sighed. Clearly the world had simply lost its mind. How did people forget the Great Fairies in under a hundred years? _Really_.

 Now that he had some real privacy he gave himself a once-over and scowled. While he’d had his share of scars before the Calamity, they’d been small and easily hidden by his feathers. The Malice monster had left some rather large burns, especially on the upper arm of his dominant wing, and he could just tell the feathers were going to grow back patchy. More than likely not enough to interfere with flight, but it would look bad…hmm, he could perhaps tattoo the skin to match his feather color, that might mitigate it...still, no time for it now…

 There was another bad one on his leg, oh this was just a nightmare. It would take weeks for he feathers to grow in properly, if they did at all.

 And he still didn’t know what to do about Link.

 At all.

.o.o.o.

 They remained in the village for a few days. Link ended up finding a shrine at Warbler’s Nest thanks to the children he’d been corralling, and to Revali’s great joy it turned out his bow had fallen off Medoh and been retrieved a hundred years ago. So he at the very least had a good weapon back and Medoh in position to fire on Ganon when the time came.

 To his even greater joy, Link seemed to remember his bow, and ended up recalling a moment at the archery range with it. So it seemed the memories weren’t exactly shy at coming back now and then…

 Link eventually made plans to set out, and Revali decided that he would go with him.

 Link had seemed surprised, but Revali felt he could more than make his case.

 “You say Mipha stayed because the Zora needed her and because she thought you were going to the desert,” Revali said. “Well. I’m not needed here now that Medoh is set up. I might as well help you.”

 Maybe…maybe he if was with Link it would help Link remember. Or help Revali get over it. One of the two.

 Link beamed at him and Revali cursed his heart for skipping like it did. He wasn’t some love-struck fledge, he was a grown Rito dealing with his feelings and he could deal with them as any warrior could.

 “Really?” Link asked. “That would be…are you sure?”

 “I said so, didn’t I?” Revali said.

 “Sorry,” Link said. “Been on my own…a _lot_.”

 “It sounds like it,” Revali said.

 He paused as he thought about it a little. Just…Link, wandering this wrecked mess of a continent, all on his own bar that horse he’d mentioned getting recently. Wandering with no memories, only echoes of Zelda’s voice and directions from a dead king whose ghost hung around long enough to point him in a direction with no context and then leave him all alone again.

 And Link had gone, had followed it because he’d had nothing else.

 It was…heady.

 “Can you show me where you’ve been?” Revali asked.

 “Well…sort of,” Link said, pulling out his slate.

 Revali barely choked back an indignant squawk when he saw the problem. “Nearly half of this map is missing!”

 “Yeah,” Link said. “It needs the towers to fill itself in and I can’t climb the two central ones yet and haven’t been to some others…”

 “You mean when you first get somewhere…you have no map?” Revali asked.

 “JI just have to climb high and hope I see the tower and a good lay of the land,” Link admitted.

 “Well. I can fly so that should help with that…so you’ve been to Eldin?” Revali asked, peering at the map.

 “Stumbled through, got to the tower. Didn’t have enough fireproof elixir to go much further,” Link said. “I’ll need more. It’s expensive.”

 “Eldin but not Akala,” Revali mused, looking over the map. “Looks like we need two in the center, one near Lake Hylia, then Akala, and of course Hebra.”

 “We’re going to start with Hebra,” Link agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revali just does not like much of what he is hearing right now, everything is very confusing to him. 
> 
> I feel like since they would have been around Zelda a lot, the Champions would probably have started getting annoy by he King. And since we also know Link was under a lot of pressure, they may have felt sympathy for Link too. Plus since Link was under pressure, he didn't like being compared favorably to Zelda since he had his power and she didn't, but more on that later.
> 
> Revali's age is hard to guess. He comes across as close to Link and Zelda, and is smaller than the adult Rito you meet in game, so I'm going with young adult, a couple years older than Link, but also naturally a bit short for a Rito.
> 
> Link meanwhile still isn't sure what he thinks about Revali, but is very excited someone will actually be going with him now. He's lonely.


	7. The Departure

 Revali was a little annoyed at having to buy supplies again when _hello, people, end of the world preventing shenanigans going on here, discount please_ but Link had a moderate amount of money thanks to selling off a staggering number of horns and fangs from monsters.

 Revali had next to no clue why people wanted them enough to pay that many rupees for a bag of them but he was just going to accept it with grace and move on because he needed to buy a few things as well. Much to his chagrin, one of those things was a small set of quilted scarves he could tie around the areas where his feathers were patchy and healing. He at least managed to get ones that matched the red parts of his armor.

 Still, not being able to rely on one’s own feathers in Hebra was _deeply_ humiliating and he was downright elated that Link was a bare-skinned Hylian because that mean Link wouldn’t notice and even if he did the hero had to wear Snowquill so he’d have to keep his newly talkative yap shut.

 He still wasn’t used to getting verbal answers to questions he asked Link. It was strange.

 Arrows ended up being another finance drain, since they were now supplying two archers and bomb arrows had apparently gone through a bit of inflation since Revali’d last come to get some.

 “Can you stop making faces already? It’s…weird,” Link said.

 “The prices are insane,” Revali said.

 “Calamity makes some stuff scarce,” Link said. “I actually used all of Gerudo Town’s and that was what brought me here. Looking for more or hoping they’d make more while I was gone.”

 “…How many is ‘all of Gerudo Town’s’ exactly?” Revali asked.

 “Maybe…thirty? In five days?” Link said. “Plus the ten Rijuu gave me so…and I already had a few…”

 “What were you _doing_?” Revali asked, askance.

 “Killing a Molduga and then breaking into the Yiga Hideout to liberate a kidnapped Gerudo and steal back an heirloom,” Link said casually.

 Revali fought against the squawk in his throat rather valiantly and managed to tame it down to a sputter before it got out of his throat, “You did _what_?”

 “…Is this something I would be upset about if I remembered…?” Link hedged.

 “The Yiga are…they’re the opposite of the Sheikah,” Revali said. “They tried to kill the princess, kill you, _kill us all_ …and you just…waltzed in?”

 “No, I snuck around in for about two days,” Link said.

 “And you just took them all out?” Revali said only to frown as Link cringed. “What?”

 “I…fought Khoga. The leader. And he sort of…did himself in,” Link said. “And now the entire Yiga clan is sending out assassins and blademasters to kill me.”

 “Oh,” Revali said. “…Well. Then. I see.”

 “I probably should have told you before you agreed to come with me,” Link said.

 Revali hissed, “What, thought it would scare me off?” How _dare_ he….

 “No! Just do you’d know and could decide then!” Link said defensively. Huh. Link could _sound_ defensive. This whole ‘hero talking’ thing was still weird.

 “What’s with your face?” Link asked slowly.

 “Nothing. Shut up,” Revali muttered. He internally winced—there was a time when _shut up_ would have been the last thing he ever said to Link, even if Link was actually saying a few words out loud.

 Hadn’t he wanted Link to talk more, once upon a time? “Never mind. What are our objectives, again?” He needed to take his mind off things.

 “Well if you’re coming with me then we can start by finding the southern shrines and tower in the Hebra region to get to know each others’ styles better since I only _sort_ of remember yours and I suppose mine has changed,” Link said. “…What?”

 “Sorry,” Revali said, realizing he’d been gaping again. “I’m still not used to you talking this much. You’d maybe say all of twenty words in a day if you were feeling especially verbose and you just more than doubled that in a sentence.”

 “Oh,” Link said. “Well…I’m not very chatty on the road, so…”

 “Lucky for us both, I am,” Revali said. “I suppose we’re walking?”

 “I have a couple of horses in the stable system, you can have one,” Link offered.

 Revali frowned, “I’ll fly above if you’re riding. Unless something’s changed in a century, almost no saddles are made well for Rito.”

 “Well, we’re headed to the mountains so I guess horses aren’t the best idea anyway,” Link said. “You’ll probably have it easier than me, with the flying.”

 “I’ll give you an updraft or two,” Revali said, smirking. “You’re a lot faster with that glider than you ever were before; I’ll say that much.”

 “I’ve fallen off a lot of things,” Link said bluntly.

  Revali laughed. He could believe it.

.o.o.o.

 “…This is your horse?” Revali asked.

 “Yes,” Link said, checking the saddle and bridle. Revali was amazed there were a saddle and bridle large enough for such a beast. It was truly massive—at least twice the size of a normal horse. He could probably just perch on the roll behind Link’s saddle and the horse would still be far from overburdened.

 “Wherever did you find him?” Revali asked.

 “Gerudo grasslands. Got pinned down between two patrolling Lynels. Rode him out,” Link said.

 “You’ve been to the desert? Not just the towers?” Revali asked, shocked. If he had been, why did Naboris still rage?

 “Yes. Needed more bomb arrows to fight Naboris. Riju said to come north,” Link said. “Since the Rito sell them.”

 “Yes, there were a decent amount at the store,” Revali said. Their cost had been annoyingly high, though. They were trying to save the world, surely something could be worked out! Link had just stopped Vah Medoh from terrorizing them, did that mean nothing? “So, if we’re to fight Naboris why are we headed north? It didn’t look like there was much in Hebra from Medoh.”

 “Need cold supplies. For the desert,” Link said, looking a little apprehensive as he added. “And the shrines. And more money for bomb arrows…used a lot on Medoh…”

Revali nodded. Link had unloaded nearly his entire stock into the monster near the end of the battle. While the village had more, it would cost nearly a thousand rupees for Link and Revali to get enough for them both to face Naboris and whatever monster was keeping Urbosa inside. It made sense.

 That didn’t mean he liked it. Revali had spent enough time trapped to know exactly how damn awful it was and wanted to make this quick if they could. But Naboris had always struck him as the most unapproachable beast after Medoh. Medoh you needed to fly and get through the shield, but Naboris you had to dance-dodge lightning to get close. Rudania and Ruta protected themselves environmentally instead, hiding in a lake or on the volcano. Revali found it much less impressive.

 “You ready?” Link asked and Revali realized he’d been thinking too long. Link was atop the horse— _Calamity_ was that thing huge; Link looked tiny atop it—and Revali now had to decide what to do.

 “Yes, he said, using a small but strong wing flap to land on the saddlebag behind Link. To the horse’s credit, it didn’t startle.

 “You okay riding there?” Link asked.

 “Fine. Let’s go,” Revali said.

.o.o.o.

 Things fell quiet as Link steered Dusk north. He had to admit, it was a little odd having someone behind him. Revali switched between perching and sitting on the saddlebag as he pleased. They had to ride the long way around the village, as the road that was the short way to Hebra had been compromised and Link wasn’t sure if Dusk could walk it properly.

 Then Revali had flown up to look around and angrily informed Link that the Tower in Hebra was the other way, to the east instead of to the North. So they lost a day just going the wrong direction. They slept in the stable that night, having made exactly no progress.

 Link was frustrated, and Revali was almost spitting fire about it. Link got the feeling Revali blamed himself for not flying up sooner, for not checking their direction at the start.

 The next morning, they set off east. Outside of a few moblin and bokoblin camps, they didn’t run into anything. Link had remembered what Revali said about being able to use boomerangs, and gave him the only one he had left from the electric Lizalfos in the desert. They made short work of the monsters. Link had to admit, righting with Revali felt…good. Right. Like he knew what was going on, for once.

 As they got closer to the tower, Revali let out a strangled sound.

 “Are you okay?” Link asked.

 “Okay? _Okay_?” Revali demanded before sweeping his arm out. “Why would I be okay?”

 Link looked around. They were just walking through some ruins…oh. Oh.

 Oh no.

 “You…you knew this place?”

 “Yes, I _knew_ this place you damned…right. Right. You don’t remember,” Revali huffed. “I apologize. Excuse me.”

 Link watched silently as Revali hopped off Dusk and began to walk around the ruins. Link counted the remains of maybe six houses, but there could have been more, once. Ones with less-sturdy foundations, that didn’t survive in any capacity.

 But they weren’t just house remains to Revali. He’d probably known people who lived here…Link might have known them too, but he didn’t remember…

 It was a little while before Revali came back. Link thought it had moved into early afternoon.

 Revali had a spare bow slung over his shoulder, and a fistful of arrows. “I found these.”

 “That’s…good,” Link said. He sometimes felt awkward about digging up things from chests, but he couldn’t deny he almost always needed them quite badly.

 Revali kept the bow, but split the arrows with Link. “It’s a Falcon Bow. Made with aerial use in mind.”

 “All right,” Link said. “…We’re almost at the tower.”

 “So we are,” Revali said.

 They had to kill a few more monsters to reach it, and to Link’s annoyance the base of the tower was encased with ice.

 “I’ll fly you up,” Revali offered. “Does the horse know to stay?”

 “Dusk stays fine,” Link said. He was about to ask how Revali wanted him to get on when Revali took off, did a loop, and snatched Link up by the shoulders. “Ah! Hey!”

 “What? I just said I was going to fly you up!” Revali snapped.

 “Teba had me on his back! Not…this!” Link complained as Revali lightly tossed him onto the platform atop the tower. Link attributed landing on his feet to sheer muscle memory, though it was still an unpleasant jolt.

 “Well _excuse me_ , Hero. I’m not as tall as Teba,” Revali snapped, his beak clacking angrily. "Now do whatever it is you do so we can be on our way.”

 “Look, I’m sorry if we used to do that all the time or whatever but I _don’t remember_ ,” Link said. “You can’t just…I mean…”

 He huffed and activated the tower.

  Revali leaned over his shoulder as the map filled in, “Oh, that’s nice.”

 Link nodded. It certainly made things easier, having a map. He glanced east, “Looks like there’s a stable that way.”

 “Well since we need money, we could hunt some of the great horned rhinoceros and moose on the way to that stable,” Revali said. “The meat would probably sell well.”

 “Good idea,” Link said. Meat could be a pretty good source of income, but he had to admit he wasn’t the best hunter…

 But now he had a Rito who wouldn’t stop bragging about his ability to use a bow on his side. That could help.

.o.o.o.

 Revali was glad when they reached the stable further down the path. Looking at the map, unless they found a lot of shrines and other materials in the Tabantha Tundra, Dusk was going to prove quite useless. It had taken some fiddling, but he had figured out how to make marks on the slate’s map, and he began to mark where he recalled some of the local shrines’ locations form a hundred years ago. So far, everything he remembered from flying around in the pre-Calamity days were high, high up in the mountains.

 Link sighed as Revali showed him the marked up map, “Really?”

 “If we work quickly I’d expect to cover them in less than a week,” Revali said. “There’s also the one behind the stable, of course.”

 “Yeah. Did you want to go into that one too, or…?” Link asked.

 “I’ll admit, I’m interested,” Revali said. “Could prove a fun little cap to today’s hunting.”

 They’d managed two rhinoceros and several moose. Link had made skewers from it which an eager, utterly under-dressed merchant had snapped up for hundreds of rupees. On the other hand, Revali had groaned at what the man charged them for arrows in return.

 “We don’t know how many we’ll need in the shrine,” Link said, shrugging.

 “Fine,” Revali said. Dusk was sent back to the stablekeepers and they walked towards the shrine.

 To his surprise, the shrine’s inner platform was an elevator that took them down, deep down into the ground.

 Revali’s jaw dropped at the size of the chamber down there. “You have to be kidding me.”

 “I’m not,” Link said. “Some are a lot bigger.”

 Revali jumped as a voice calling itself Rin Oyaa told them to solve the shrine to receive a blessing.

 “So…how does this work?” he asked Link.

 “Most shrines are like giant puzzles,” Link said. He looked around. “…We need to get that ball into that cup.”

 “Is flying cheating?” Revali asked.

 “The balls are very heavy and slippery,” Link said. “I don’t think I could hang onto it with you carrying me the way you do and I don’t think your talons could get a grip on it.”

 “All right,” Revali said, flying over to the cup. “You try and solve it normally, I’ll try in reverse.”

 Link flashed a thumbs-up and they got to work.

 Hmm. The intent seemed to be using the fans to blow the ball into the hole…but they’d need to break or block several…and place the ball carefully as well…

 Revali sighed. This could be a long night. He flew over to the ledge to get what was inside a treasure chest, hoping the higher vantage point would give him some more ideas. The chest contained some piece of ancient technology. Revali pocketed it to give to Link later.

 He glanced downwards, “What are you doing?”

 “…Moving things?” Link asked, using some kind of beam from the slate to move around large metal cubes.

 “You can do that?” Revali asked.

 “…Yes?” Link offered.

 “Then why aren’t you moving the ball?” Revali asked, rubbing his forehead.

 “It can’t be magnetized,” Link said. “Not metal.”

 “Of course,” Revali muttered.

 Eventually they blocked the right fans and the damnable ball rolled into the hole. A chime rang and Revali saw that the way to the caged monk was now open. He swooped down and grabbed Link, who didn’t seem as upset this time, and dropped him in front of the cube. “Now what?”

 Link reached out and touch the cube. The energy wall turned to string-thin strands which then shattered.

 The monk instructed them to accept its blessing before a small orb floated out to Link and the monk dissolved into light.

 “So what is that?” Revali asked.

 “Spirit orb,” Link said. “I still need more, though.”

 “And what do we do with it?” Revali asked.

 “Offer it to the Goddess,” Link said. “In exchange for help.”

 “Well, we do need an awful lot of help,” Revali said. “Let’s get back to the stable. We’ll set out in the morning.”

 Link nodded and let Revali fly him back down to the elevator. He seemed a little…somber, after getting the spirit orb, and Revali hadn’t missed his turning taciturn on the subject of what it was.

 Link always had a tendency to become stern and expressionless when he didn’t want to deal with things. Revali supposed clamming up was he equivalent for this chattier Link. The facial expression was the same, some sort of serious-determined mask Link had developed long before Revali had ever met him and had initially convinced Revali that Link was dull and possibly full of himself.

 Still, Revali wasn’t sure this was his best idea. He’d barely kept himself from screaming at Link in the remains of Tabantha Village. There were bound to be more instances of that as they went on, and while Link seemed willing to let Revali process everything, Revali was acutely aware that Link didn’t feel any of the things Revali did about the ruins.

 Oh, he might feel sad, sure, he might feel regret for had once been in a vague, detached sort of way…but he didn’t remember.

 Just like he didn’t remember Revali.

.o.o.o.

  _“You’re taking too long. I thought you didn’t like it when the princess got mad at you?”_

_Link turned to shrug a Revali. He was still torn between whether to get plenty of normal arrows or just a few shock arrows._

_“Fire arrows are what matter here and we have them,” Revali said. “Just make your choice and hurry. I know my presence is something you never want to leave but you’ll get plenty of that on the way to the mountaintop shrine. Now come on, before the princess tries to set off without us!”_

_He was scolding Link, but he didn’t sound too upset. More like he was teasing._

_Link was vaguely aware of it being a more lighthearted teasing than their first meeting._

_Link hurriedly bought the normal arrows and rushed out of the shop, Revali on his heels._

_Revali hissed and snapped his beak, “Of course she’s gone.”_

_One of the villagers gave them an amused look and pointed northwest, where Zelda was slowly making her way up a steep ridge. Link sighed—they’d planned an easier path._

_“I’ll go get her,” Revali said, before smirking and leaning close, “If she decides to call it treason, I’ll just blame you.”_

_Link watched Revali take off and swoop over towards Zelda, who was very much not happy when the Rito easily plucked her from the cliff face. Link tried not to laugh, while several of the villages didn’t manage and started giggling at Revali’s handling of the princess. Link winced when he realized. If this got back to the king-_

.o.o.o.

 Link woke up and sat up, panting.

 Well. He’d been right. The village had indeed had more than six or so houses once…

 So Revali had been equally impatient a hundred years ago, but also got annoyed when Zelda had tried forging ahead on her own. At least this was another memory where he and Link seemed to be getting along…

 Link shivered a bit as he remembered Revali’s beak brushing against his ear as the Rito had joked about blaming him. That had felt closer than just friendly teasing.

 Hopefully he remembered more. He wasn’t sure how to ask Revali about it, and he didn’t want to drive away his only companion over a misunderstanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revali's started feeling the strain of being around a sans-memories Link, though being Revali he can be a bit self-centered about it. Also he is pissed about the inflation of arrow prices. Especially from Beedle. He's also not used to Link talking anywhere near so much and it keeps messing with him. 
> 
> Link's main horse for my playthrough was the Giant Horse so that's who he has here. Also added convenience since Dusk can carry both Link and Revali easily. 
> 
> Meanwhile Link is dealing with a fussy Rito who's reacting to things on an entirely different wavelength from him. And while he's got some hunches as to how he and Revali used to be, he's not sure how to go about asking.


	8. The Mountains

 Revali flew from ledge to ledge, mapping out the terrain as Link climbed behind him. Link thought it was a pretty good system, all things accounted for. Revali could judge the distances more easily than Link could since he could view them at all angles as opposed to Link who was working from below. Revali could tell if Link had far to go, was closer to a ledge than he hough, or even if a small pocket in the side of the mountain was large enough to stand on or not.

 “Little to the left!” Revali called. “More than that, more, okay, straight up now!”

 Link pulled himself up onto the ledge as Revali landed.

 “All right, if we move northwest we’ll eventually reach a drop,” Revali said. “Then we’ll glide down and be at the shrine.”

 “Thanks,” Link said. This was so much easier than stumbling around and trusting the shrine sensor. Revali’s eagle eyes were one hell of a step up.

 “Well I live to serve,” Revali said dryly.

 They reached the drop and Link frowned, “Where is it?”

 “I caught a glimpse of it behind those doors,” Revali said. “We just need to open them somehow.”

 Link frowned as he hopped off the ledges and glided down to the slopes. “Maybe a big snowball?”

 “You must be joking,” Revali said.

 “Nope,” Link said. “See, if we start here with a big one it’ll roll down there-”

 “And fall in that hole long before it reaches the doors.” Revali looked very unimpressed with this.

 Link grinned and held up the slate.

 Revali rolled his eyes, “Don’t tell me, you can magically levitate snowballs.”

 “…No,” Link said.

 “I was joking,” Revali said. “What are doing?”

 Link walked over to the hole and to his delight, there was water at the bottom. He used Cryonis to make an ice block that just about filled the hole.

 “What. Did. You. Do?” Revali groaned.

 “Rune in the slate. Makes ice blocks on top of water,” Link said.

 “…Huh,” Revali said.

 Link couldn’t help but beam at him. Revali chuckled softly, shooting Link a small smile before waving him back up the hill to make their snowball.

 It felt like that a lot of the time with Revali. He’d be helpful, then snappish, and then suddenly Link just felt so close and so in tune with him that it almost hurt since Link couldn’t remember why.

 Revali seemingly got bored waiting and hit Link with a snowball instead of making a large one to roll. Link just shrugged it off and got to work. Revali sighed but helped him.

 “You’re the one with the amazing aim,” Link said, patting Revali on the shoulder.

 Far from being annoyed at the teasing, Revali all but preened at the statement, “True. I’ll handle it.”

 Revali shoved the snowball down the hill. It bounced off the ice block and continued on down to the large stone doors, which it broke in.

 “And there you go,” Revali said with a theatrical bow.

 “Good job,” Link said, grinning. “Truly, masterful.”

 “Watch it,” Revali muttered, shaking his head before going down the hill.

.o.o.o.

 They completed the shrine and moved onto the next one, on a small peak across from the Hebra plunge. Revali was quite pleased at the time they were making, and the fact that the shrines often included some rather nice weaponry to shore up their small stash.

 “All right,” Revali said, peering at the map over Link’s shoulder. “I propose we follow Hebra Falls for now, up to the spring. We can set up camp there and start climbing in the morning. There are trees we can cut down for wood.”

 “Sounds good,” Link said. “Are you sure you don’t want any of the one-handed swords? You still only have that one boomerang…”

 “I only know how to use boomerangs,” Revali said. “A sickle in a pinch, but I’m…out of practice.”

 Link gave him a look that clearly read he was amused by how Revali had to work to spit that last part out. Revali sighed and shook his head, trying to rid himself of memories of that same look for so many other little things.

 He just hoped he wasn’t being too obvious. Link didn’t seem to have caught on, but since he was less emotive due to actually possessing the ability to talking whenever he wanted instead of having his words crushed by the pressure he’d always been under…

 Well, _this_ was pressure, wasn’t it? Why did Link feel so chatty now, with a world to save and-

 Revali stopped dead, Link doing the same a second later. The both quickly backed up and ducked behind some rocks.

 “Two Lizalfos,” Revali said.

 “Yeah,” Link said. “Go around or take out?”

 Revali sighed. The monsters were close enough to what he considered a good camping spot to be dangerous if they were going to be resting. “We’ll have to take them out.”

 “All right,” Link said. “They Lizafos are ice-based so if we can nail them both with fire arrows quickly they’ll be out of the fight.”

 “Makes sense to me,” Revali said. After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled out the Falcon Bow instead of his Great Eagle Bow. No need to put any undue stress on the latter, or waste it when it wasn’t needed.  Link pulled out a spiky wooden bow with bones on it. “Where did you get that?”

 “Bokoblin archers,” Link said.

 “Urgh,” Revali scoffed. “Don’t call anything those monsters do _archery_ , really, you insult me.”

 “Prick,” Link chuckled as they both drew back the arrows and let them fly. The icy Lizalfos screamed and vanished in puffs of Malice.

 Link hopped over the rocks to grab the gear left behind by the Lizalfos. Revali chuckled and went to follow him, “So, I take it graverobbing monsters is a new hobby of yours, then?”

 Link turned to look at Revali, only for his eyes to go wide. Revali didn’t even need to hear Link’s cry of “down!” to hit the snowy ground and roll quickly out of the way.

 Revali pushed himself up in time to catch a glimpse of their assailant—a Yiga assassin—before the person vanished. Revali quickly took to the air, which turned out to be smart as the assassin reappeared to drop on where Revali had previously been.

 Link whipped out a sword and shield and charged the assassin, only for them to disappear again. Revali saw the smoke of their reappearance behind Link and quickly fired. The assassin cried out and dropped to a knee at the shock of the arrow through their shoulder, allowing Link to charge them properly and hack into them.

 Revali landed, cautiously looking around for more assassins. There seemed to be none, and Link already started looting this one. Well. That had been quick, at least.

 “I’ll assume we leave the body for the wolves?” Revali asked quietly as Link quickly emptied the assassin’s pockets.

 “Yes. You okay?” Link asked.

 “Fine,” Revali said.

 Link grinned, “I usually don’t get rid of them so fast. We work well together.”

 Revali smiled, “I…suppose we do.” He glanced away to try and avoid showing exactly _why_ they worked so well together when the first part of Link’s statement hit him. “Wait. How many of these people have you fought?”

 “Four or five more. Only three since the hideout raid,” Link said before holding the assassin’s sickle out to Revali, “Here, you said you could use these?”

 “I was just almost stabbed with that!” Revali hissed.

 “You also need more weapons,” Link replied. Revali could tell from the look on his face he was going to be stubborn about it.

 Revali huffed and snatched the sickle. “Fine.”

 They eventually reached the woods at the top of the spring. Link _of course_ had an axe, and neatly chopped a tree to bits while Revali foraged around for a bit of food and made sure there were no hidden monsters around.

 “I’ll take first watch,” Revali offered. He wasn’t tired, so soon after the ambush, while Link looked exhausted from tree-clearing.

 “Thanks,” Link said, smiling.

 “Suppose you’re used to just sleeping and hoping no one comes?” Revali asked. Hmm. He’d been going for a light tone but he felt it came across as too…flippant. He didn’t want to act like he cared too much about this but he didn’t want to sound as if he thought Link was worthless or anything…

 Stupid stress and lovesick ridiculousness. He didn’t want to deal with any of it.

 “Yeah. More…dozing while sitting up,” Link admitted.

 “Well, you’ll be safe to sleep tonight,” Revali said. Link’s grin made his heart clench a bit, but he ignored it.

 After some dinner—Revali silently thanked the goddess for Link’s ridiculous magic bag and its ability to store stews—Link settled down to sleep. Revali stayed quiet for a very long time, until the initial restlessness gave way to a deeper sleep and Link seemed to really relax.

 Revali supposed Link hadn’t slept well outside a stable until now. He watched for a moment before he caught himself smiling at the sight and turned away to keep proper watch.

 Memories or not, it was always nice to see Link finally relax and rest. But all that did was remind Revali that the memories weren’t there at all.

 Link just seemed so… _different_. Revali supposed amnesia did that to a person, but still…

 The chattiness was one thing. If it was just that then Revali could probably have handled things. But Link was also bolder, pushy even. He’d had his stubborn moments in the past but not in such a blunt manner.

 There was also how he fought. While it was still close enough to what Revali remembered for their styles to blend neatly it was also rougher. Revali supposed he had to blame the amnesia for that too, Link likely was working from a combination of instinct and solo practice these days.

 And while Link had been prone to eyerolls when annoyed with Revali, that was still a far cry from the verbalized sarcasm Revali currently faced.

 One would think the differences would aid him in maybe letting go, but he still was drawn in by everything that drew him in the first time, even if the differences were disquieting or even outright annoying.

 Whatever else, Link was someone who would march across a continent alone to save everyone else. If all Revali could give him was not having to do it alone, so be it.

.o.o.o.

 Link poked at the fire. Revali had been rather short when they traded off shifts, but Link attributed that to wanting to sleep and maybe some lingering resentment about Link forcing him to take the sickle.

 If they could have just gone and bought Revali a weapon Link wouldn’t have been so pushy. But they couldn’t.

 Link had another memory-dream before waking up, this time about camping just like this. It had been near the mountain that sometimes glowed, he thought, him, Zelda, and the four Champions.

 He’d been sitting with Revali, maybe even leaning on him a little, while Daruk waxed on about his daughter teething on soft igneous rocks. Link remembered finding it an adorable story.

 But it was the leaning on Revali that he kept coming back to. If they’d been close, Link would have expected Revali to say something, or do something…

 Then again, Revali had reacted pretty badly to Link’s confession about not remembering him. For someone with Revali’s ego, that had to be a bad blow, but it seemed…hurt, almost. How he’d reacted.

 Link had no idea how to bring it up, though. Were they just close friends or something…else?

 He felt his face get warm despite the cold. Revali was good looking, sure, and there was clearly a good man under those egotistical feathers. And there were moments where…well. Link kind of just wanted to look at him.

 He wished he knew why. If they’d just been friends, then these new feelings Link was having with his memories gone could ruin that. He didn’t want to ruin that.

He didn’t want to be alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And more drama and angst. Link doesn't want to bring anything up because he's worried if he upsets Revali he'll end up alone again. Revali doesn't want to bring anything up because it could lead to a letdown and push Link away. Also Revali's going down a path we'll see more of next chapter, where the differences between pre- and post-amnesia Link are getting to him a bit. 
> 
> Also we get a Yiga Assassination Attempt and Revali being completely confused about Cryonis. Like, how does it do that? At all? He's so baffled. 
> 
> I get my map details from this interactive game map. It's so awesome: https://www.zeldadungeon.net/breath-of-the-wild-interactive-map
> 
> Next time, we go further into a mountains and a snowstorm forces close quarters that end up forcing the talk they should have had sooner. Finally.


	9. The Night

 

 They continued through the Hebra mountains over the next several days. Revali was very annoyed to discover the existence of Stal monsters and complained about it for almost the entire next day after they were forced to deal with four large, skeletal moblins and Link was a little slow in just telling Revlai to shoot them in the head.

 On the upside, one of those skeletal moblins was carrying a bow, so they had another spare.

 After marching as far west as they could, they turned around and headed for the Tabantha Tundra and the shrine Revali claimed was in the northern part of it.

 Link still felt like he was missing something in his interactions with Revali, an explanation for how well they worked together and the feelings that kept stirring in his chest around the Rito Champion. But he wasn’t sure how to ask, and there wasn’t much time to chat on the road.

 Revali landed beside him, “We need to stop for today.”

 “Why?” Link asked.

 Revali gestured skyward, “Blizzard coming.”

 Link groaned, “Great.” He looked around. There wasn’t exactly much around them hat screamed shelter. “Did you see anywhere to stay?”

 “We could go back to the shine,” Revali said. “Block off the opening with packed snow and melt our way out in the morning."

 Link nodded and pulled out the slate to take them back to the Rok Uwog shrine. It would mean a bit of lost progress, but they would handle it.

 “I suppose we could also ride the elevator down and just stay down there,” Revali said.

 Link shook his head, “The elevators don’t work after you free the monk.”

 “Oh. Wonderful,” Revali said before walking over to inspect the covered part of the shrine. “I’d say it’s still big enough for us to lie down in and a little room besides. We’re lucky you’re small.”

 Link bit back a comment about how it was also lucky Revali was short for a Rito. Revali didn’t seem to like being reminded of that.

   They packed the snow quickly and carefully, with Link holding a fire broadsword close to let it slightly met and then re-freeze into a more solid structure. By making it bow outward a bit they were able to give themselves just a bit more room, which would be nice since the darkening sky hinted that they likely weren’t going anywhere until morning.

 Link drew his slightly damaged thunderblade and propped it against the wall so they’d have some light. “So, now we wait.”

 “I suppose,” Revali said. “At the very least it’s a good time to repair our weapons after all the wear they’ve been through these last few days.”

 Link nodded. He’d noticed Revali was very careful about when he used the Great Eagle Bow, probably trying to keep it in top condition for as long as possible. He pulled out his own weapons and began to take stock. “We did find a lot of ice arrows.”

 Revali snorted softly, “That we did. Those might be useful in the desert.”

 Link nodded. He liked using them against lizalfos, since they were so damned fast, and there were so many electric lizalfos in the desert that ice arrows were a great staple.

 “Hopefully we’ll reach the shrine in the morning,” Revali said, stretching before he laid down.

 Link didn’t say anything, he just hummed in agreement as he lay down as well.

 Revali had a habit of making words stick in his throat, sometimes.

.o.o.o.

  _The fire crackled softly. Officially only Link was on watch, but Zelda was restless and sat up with him._

_He tried to look reassuring. Tried to convey that maybe this would be it without putting too much pressure._

_They both had enough of that._

_“Now that I’m old enough to journey up Mt. Lanayru to pray at the spring…maybe,” Zelda said, smiling softly before the smile fell. “It’s our last chance.”_

_Link shook his head. It wasn’t, if it didn’t work, they’d find something else._

_“I feel like this could be it, though,” Zelda said, looking hopeful again. “I’ve…I’ve just got a good feeling.  Maybe it’s just this trip.”_

_Link nodded. It was nice, travelling around with the Champions. Not so lonely as just the two of them, but without the pressure they’d get from almost everyone else. Daruk’s assumed leadership took burdens off both Link and Zelda’s shoulders, letting them focus on their immediate problems instead of Zelda’s role as commander and Link’s unofficial higher spot in the hierarchy to the Champions._

_Urbosa was a grounding influence, focusing them on what they could do, what they had done, and all they had worked for. It was especially a comfort to Zelda, propping her up whenever her powers didn’t come through and she felt worthless for it, propping her up whenever the king was too harsh. Mipha was a balm, keeping them all in good health and helping them regain their calm when everything became too much. And Revali…_

_Link looked over a Revali, sleeping without a blanket since his feathers kept him perfectly warm on a summer night like this, before glancing at Zelda as she giggled._

  _“Sorry. Just in a…very good mood,” Zelda said. “I’ve got this feeling that I’m close. Maybe tomorrow will be it.”_

.o.o.o.

 Revali woke up and instantly regretted doing so.

 Link had rolled into him at some point in the night and that brought up far too many memories for the one of them who could actually _remember_ those memories.

 Revali had used to love moments like this. He could take pride in the fact that Link felt safe enough around him to just _relax_ and totally let his guard down. He was strong enough to push away Link’s troubles for a little while.

 Now?

 Now he was just the warm body that Link had fallen asleep beside. It turned his stomach.

 He tried to move back but hissed as his head cracked against the shrine wall. The noise woke Link up and the hero bolted to attention, looking around for problems.

 “Oh,” Link said upon realizing it was just him and Revali in a snowed in shrine.

 “Yes, oh,” Revali muttered bitterly. “Mind your own space…”

 “Sorry, I…” Link said. “Didn’t mean to upset…it’s just tight in here.”

 Revali huffed, trying not to let on about anything but Link seemed to realize something and kept going.

 “I just…I sort of had the feeling we were…” Link said. “I mean…before…”

 Revali clenched his fingers tightly to force down the swirl of feelings that brought on. “Yes, well.”

 “Why won’t you tell me?” Link asked.

 “What do you even want me to say?” Revali demanded. He was touchy, being confronted with his own cowardice so point blank was not something he wanted to deal with, especially not in close quarters with Link in the dead of night with only a sparking thunderblade to see by.

 Link faltered at that, eyes wide and so very vulnerable. Revali sighed.

 “See? Don’t even know what you want, hero.”

 “I _want_ to remember,” Link said. “It’s all so fragmented, almost like watching scenes from a play, I sometimes barely recognize the me in them as being me-”

 “Maybe he’s not,” Revali said, getting a sinking feeling. “Shrine of Resurrection, right? Link died. My…the Link _I_ knew died. You’re not him.”

 It made awful, terrible sense, in a way. Losing your memories, your sense of self…it probably entirely rewrote who you were as a person.

 Revali hadn’t wanted to confront it, how did one even try to confront it, but…

 “I want to be.”

 Revali looked up in time to catch that Link was crying as the hero ducked his head. Maybe he’d been too harsh, “Look, I just meant-”

 “I’m not dead,” Link said fiercely. “I’m _not_ dead.”

 “Well, no, _you_ aren’t-”

 “If I’m not really me then why do I have some of _my_ memories, do I feel things when _I_ remember them? Seeing, seeing Zelda and wanting to help her, seeing Medoh turn and feeling like my heart was _ripped_ out of my chest-”

 “You saw that?” Revali asked.

 “I…I was fighting something, Lynels, I think,” Link said. “Zelda and I, close to the castle, trying to get closer. Medoh in the air, stalled. Something was wrong, we thought…thought you were coming to help, the others were coming to help. Then…it turned…and you…I thought you were…you were…dead.”

 “Thought I was as good as,” Revali said. “…I didn’t know you were down there. I saw the guardians malfunctioning and attacking but…I was focused on Ganon. I was trying to shoot him when I was attacked. I didn’t know you saw it.”

“I thought that Link _wasn’t_ me,” Link muttered darkly.  

 “I…I mean…you know what I mean,” Revali said.                                                                               

 Link glared at him and Revali sighed, “You…you don’t act like _you_. At all. And I’m supposed to buy that somehow whatever scraps of memory you have—and you _admit_ they are scraps—is enough to fully encompass any feelings you had for me before the Calamity?”

 “I…I…” Link said before hanging his head. “I don’t know. But I feel something.”

 “Who wouldn’t? I’m an extraordinarily handsome Rito, after all,” Revali said.

 “I’m sorry,” Link said quietly. “I guess…I forgot how this must be…for you…”

 “Was it different with Mipha?” Revali asked weakly.

 “It was like we’d always been friends and felt right,” Link said. “And Sidon…he was just a little kid anyway so he only remembered me a bit more than I remembered him. I…I guess…when I realized how I felt about you…I hoped it would be that easy.”

 “I wish it was that easy,” Revali muttered, sneaking a quick glance at Link before returning to staring at the ground. It hurt, seeing Link this upset. “I suppose I’m at fault too. I agreed to do this. I thought…” he reached across his chest with one wing to rub the forearm of the other, “I _thought_ …Link?”

 Link seemed to be staring into space. Revali didn’t know what to do. Was he remembering? Was this some sort of mental attack on himself? What was going on?

.o.o.o.

  _“Suppose it’s not that easy, is it?”_

  _Link smiled softly and shook his head. Revali could act downright weird when his nerves actually came to the surface. The always sure of himself Champion melted away, leaving the parts of Revali that felt he had to prove himself exposed with no ego backing them up. Leaving the fear that he might actually_ not _measure up clear to see._

_And Link supposed it was an odd situation, having their feelings out in the open like this and trying to figure out where to go from here._

_“Revali.” It got Revali’s attention, hearing his name said aloud._

_“I just…I don’t know what it is you_ want _,” Revali sighed. “I’m…not a Hylian.”_

_‘I’m not a Rito,’ Link offered, once Revali looked at him to see the signs._

_“No you are not,” Revali admitted. He ran the back of the tip of his wing against Link’s face, “I…suppose…we could wing it?”_

_Link chuckled softly before nodding with a smile._

_Revali smiled back before reaching over and pulling Link close. He leaned down slightly, rubbing his beak against Link’s nose and his fingers cupped Link’s head. Link nuzzled his beak in return in Revali chuckled, “Sure you’re not a Rito? I’m pretty sure that’s how we kiss, Link.”_

_Link laughed, burying his face in Revali’s neck._

_“Ah well,” Revali said, bravado seeping back in. “I suppose we’re not the type to do things the easy way, hm?”_

.o.o.o.

 “Link!”

 Link gasped as he was snapped out of the memory by Revali shaking him.

 “Are you all right?” Revali sounded frantic.

 “Fine, fine. Just a memory,” Link said.

 “Well. You didn’t need to give me a heart attack,” Revali muttered sulkily as he backed off.

 “Sorry,” Link said. “I just tend to space out sometimes…”

 “What…” Revali seemed hesitant, nervous. Like Link had remembered him being, so long ago. “What did you…remember?”

 “That we don’t really do things the easy way,” Link said.

 Revali choked softly at Link’s answer. “I…I…”

 “I want this,” Link said. “And…and I don’t just want this because I think I’m supposed to want this, I feel something here and I felt it as soon as I heard your voice on Medoh. So…this is real. And I know it’s a mess. But it’s real.”

“I…” Revali shook his head and exhaled sharply enough for the puff of air to nudge his scarf a bit. “I didn’t know what to do.”

 It sounded like it took him some effort to drag that out, so Link decided they didn’t need to dwell on it right now. “Well, neither did I.”

 “This is…hard. For me. Too,” Revali said, still dragging the words out as if they’d like nothing more than to never, ever leave his beak. He seemed to be getting defensive again, wings wrapped around himself and glaring off to the side as though something in that speck of floor was the source of the trouble.

 “I want to try,” Link said because it was true. He wanted to see where this went, and, more selfishly, being around Revali seemed to bring up more memories than wandering all over Hyrule did. He wanted them to stay together and see what happened.

 “I suppose that sounds…doable,” Revali said, ego seeping back into his voice as he regained his composure. Link wasn’t sure how he felt about that. While it meant Revali was probably feeling a little better about this it was hard to tell. Link didn’t want Revali upset, but it seemed to be the only time he dropped the bravado enough to know what he was really thinking. “Though I really must insist we adjourn this until we’re out of here. I’m getting claustrophobic.”

 The ease with which he said it made Link think that either that was a lie or it was a common Rito thing and Revali thus didn’t see claustrophobia as a weakness so much as an annoyance, by his tone. Maybe Revali was just all talked out for the moment. He did seem to get disturbed when he and Link talked for long periods.

 Still, they had hours until morning, and then hours until the shrine in the Tabantha Snowfield. They could talk later. “Sounds good. Slate says we have a few more hours in here.”

 “Urgh,” Revali said, rolling his eyes. “Very well.”

 As he settled back down he glanced at Link before slowly—not hesitantly, intentionally not hesitantly though Link had a feeling if it wasn’t Revali it would have looked hesitant—lifting his wing. “Well come on, then. We were sleeping perfectly well like that and your poorly insulated self doesn’t need frostbite.”

 Link grinned before laying down net to Revali and curling in close. He heard Revali’s breath catch slightly but before he could say anything Revali sighed softly and simply adjusted how his wing fell over Link.

 “We’ll figure it out.” Revali said.

 It sounded like he was saying it more for himself than Link.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this universe you can't go back into the shrines since, outside the ones with Scouts, there's really no reason to unless you're gunning for treasure you missed. But they do serve as decent makeshift shelters since they're very solid on three sides. 
> 
> Link and Revali still have quite a bit of talking to do, and Revali has a lot of thinking to do as well to process what they just discussed. Link really does feel like a different person entirely sometimes to Revali, and that really messes with Revali's head and feelings. 
> 
> Plus until Link recovered that last memory, Revali didn't know how often he was remembering things since most of them while were hey were asleep. Revali thought Link had a LOT less memories than he does (tho frankly Link still only has so many) and that informed his actions.
> 
> Zelda giggled because she ships it.


	10. The Tension

 Revali quickly banked to avoid another ice arrow.

 They’d made their way down the mountain in awkward silence only for Link to freeze not long into the Tabantha Snowfield. Revali, who admittedly had been letting his attention wander due to some very heavy, very important thoughts, had looked up to see a large Lynel with a white mane not that far up ahead. There had been nowhere to hide from it and if they ran it would hear them, turn around, and snipe them both.

 Hence fighting the damned thing.        

 It seemed to be over-focusing on Revali, since he was shooting it a lot from the air. Link meanwhile only had to worry about getting trampled.

 Revali could easily see the degradation in Link’s skills from a hundred years ago. His dodges were more frantic and he became winded more easily. Not that Revali could focus too much on it because this _stupid Lynel_ kept shooting at him!

 Finally it reared up, trying to bring its front hooves down on Link, and Revali got a bomb arrow into its underbelly. The Lynel staggered and Link jumped onto its back, handing onto its mane with one hand and hacking into its neck with a flameblade in the other. The beast went down fairly quickly after that.

 “Well, that was…a bit of excitement,” Revali said. “Does it look like we’re close to the shrine on the map?”

 Link panted for a few moments before pulling out the slate. He nodded.

 “Good,” Revali said. “Are…you all right?”

 Link nodded, seeming to have finally caught his breath. “Thanks. It’s easier, not being all on my own for that.”

 “That seems rather obvious,” Revali said before regretting his mocking tone. Link gave him a dirty look. Great.

 The kept walking to the shrine, only for a roar to split the air as they got close to the glowing structure.

 “You have to be kidding,” Revali said, spotting yet another Lynel in the distance.

 “Get to the shrine!” Link said.

 Revali jumped and seized Link’s shoulders in his talons, trusting his flight speed to be better than Link just running. He about threw Link into the activation pedestal before swerving to avoid an ice arrow.

 “Hurry up!” he snapped at Link as the hero yanked out the slate and slammed it into the pedestal.

 The shrine hummed and opened as the Lynel roared and started to charge to close the gap. Revali nocked a shock arrow only for Link to grab him and hurl him into the elevator before jumping beside him on the pad. The disc quickly descended, saving them from the Lynel for now.

 Revali panted as they reached the bottom, “Did you just…throw me?”

 Link grinned weakly and shrugged.

 Revali hummed before shrugging, “Well. That was…fun.”

 Link snorted.

 “Still, multiple Lynels guarding this place. What will they think of next?” Revali muttered. “This has better be one hell of a shrine!”

.o.o.o.

 It did not turn out to be a particularly interesting shrine, to Link and Revali’s annoyance. Revali’s ability to fly left it with no challenge whatsoever, and the only treasure other than the spirit orb was a broadsword. A very good broadsword, in fact Link was quite happy with it, but frankly for all the trouble Revali seemed to have wanted more and Link really couldn’t blame him.

 “Still there?” Link asked as Revali peered outside the enclosed part of the shrine.

 “Yes,” Revali muttered, looking annoyed.

 “Well, this was the last one. Can just teleport back to the stable,” Link said.

 “I suppose so,” Revali sighed, holding out a wing as Link activated the slate’s map. Soon they were at the shrine behind the shrine behind the Snowfield stable.

 “Come on,” Link said, waving Revali towards one of the cookpots. They could plan out their next moves over some warm food.

 There turned out to be a little bush of berries on the way, and Link quickly mixed them with some chili peppers and lower quality meat.

 “So, now that we have completed the shrines…we’re low on bomb arrows. Again. Mostly because of the Lynel,” Revali said. He rolled one berry between his fingers and Link found himself watching. It wasn't like when a memory put him in a trance, more like just...wanting to watch. Well. Revali was good looking. 

 "So I suppose we're going to have to buy some?" Revali asked.

 Link nodded. If they were lucky, the Gerudo would have more by now.

 “Well then, I propose we do a little hunting around here to replenish our coffers and then ride south…unless you’d rather just teleport,” Revali said.

 “You could help me with the Ridgeland Tower,” Link said. “Fill in the map a bit, find a few more shrines.”

 “Think you’ll need more to face Naboris?” Revali asked inquisitively before chuckling, “No need, you have the most perfect backup in all of Hyrule, after all.”

 “Thanks,” Link said, the sarcasm slipping out before he could help it.

 “If you really want to do the shrines then fine,” Revali said. “But when Urbosa asks what took so long, I _will_ blame you.”

 Link smirked, “And she’ll believe you over me?” With Revali’s attitude?

 Revali scowled, “I got along with her perfectly well. Why wouldn’t she believe me?”

 Link went to point out what he’d just thought, only to falter. He _didn’t_ remember how Urbosa and Revali acted around each other. He wasn’t really sure what to say at all now.

 Revali took some pity on him and changed the subject, though Link would almost rather have been corrected, to learn something more that he didn't recall, “What should our route be to the tower, then, hero?”

 “We could ride Dusk around the ravine,” Link said, pulling up the map. “There’s a stable on the other side, the Serenne Stable.”

 “We could just fly over it,” Revali said. “I could make enough of an updraft to let you glide over.”

 “I’m not sure I could hang onto the glider than long,” Link hedged, frowning at the map. “It’s wide.”

 “I wouldn’t let you fall,” Revali huffed. “But then there should be plenty of animals to shoot along the road. And we’ll need more money for bomb arrows.”

 “Thank you,” Link said. He peered at the map again, “It looks like there’s something in the ravine…”

 “There used to be an old temple down there,” Revali said, shrugging. “Not many people went even before the Calamity.”

 “Hmm,” Link said. “Thanks.”

.o.o.o.

 They set out late the next morning, Link on Dusk and Revali gliding overhead. They hung closer to the mountains than the ravine to get more moose to shoot, and ended up getting a little sidetracked to collect some rushrooms growing on the cliffs.

 Then they swung wide instead of going right for the stable, looking for shrines and other useful things before getting utterly sidetracked again by a quad of stal moblins after sunset.

 Revali could see the tower in the distance. He didn’t see any reason from here that Link would have trouble climbing it, but then he wasn’t Link. Oh well. Bring able to fly had solved one tower, why not another?

 Revali’s eyes widened as Malice appeared in the air and rapidly began to thicken. He swooped lower, “Link, something’s wrong!”

 “Blood moon, come on,” Link said, waving Revali forward urgently.

 Blood…moon? Revali tried to remember if he’d ever seen this sort of thing from up on Medoh…he supposed the Moon had looked oddly red some nights but really almost everything looked red, stuck inside that _thing_. “And what, pray tell hero, is a _blood moon_?”

 “Ganon uses his Malice to revive his fallen monsters,” Link said. Upon seeing what was no doubt horror on Revali’s face Link quickly added, “If doesn’t work with the things that took over the Divine Beasts! We checked with Ruta!”

 “I see,” Revali said. “So…moving, then?”

 Link nodded, setting Dusk into a canter. After some hesitation, Revali swooped down and perched on the saddlebag behind the saddle.

 “So…what happens during this blood moon, exactly?” Revali asked uneasily as he tried settle down behind Link.

 Link blinked, “What I said.”

 “So, what, _every_ monster we’ve slain in the mountains is just going to be back?” Revali asked, wide-eyed.

 Link nodded grimly, “And any others killed after the last blood moon.”

  That helped explain the state of Hyrule. There was quite literally no way to effectively push back against the monsters, the malice just revived them every time…

 “So you’re saying outside of the Divine Beasts, there is no respite for Hyrule until you defeat Calamity Ganon,” Revali said, realizing just how bad the situation really was.

 Link nodded tightly and _there_ was the knight Revali had known, soldiering on under a burden he’d carried since he was a preteen.

 “Well, naturally I’ll help you get there as swiftly as possible,” Revali said.

 “…Did I-?” Link started to ask before faltering to think. “Did I ever…before, I mean…talk about after?”

 “You had no idea about after,” Revali said. “You joked sometimes about sleeping for a year.”

 “…Think I overdid it,” Link said wryly.

 “And too early to boot,” Revali chuckled. Without thinking he leaned forward and nuzzled Link’s ear gently. When reality caught up to him he pulled back quickly, “I’m sorry. That was…forward.”

 Link turned around and to Revali’s surprise grabbed Revali under the chin and yanked him closer so Link could plant a small kiss on the tip of his beak. Link turned back around. It was hard to tell under the red moon, but Revali thought he was blushing. “Then so was that.”

 Revali clucked softly, “You don’t need to feel obligated to-”

 “I don’t,” Link said flatly. “I wanted to.”

 “Oh,” Revali said quietly.

 “Don’t act so surprised. I told you I…” Link said before sighing. “Besides. Aren’t you an _extraordinarily handsome Rito_ or something? Should be used to it.”

 Revali scowled at getting that tossed back in his face. “You were doing better with the first sentence.”

 “Can we…not have this fight on a horse?” Link asked.

 “I can get off,” Revali said. The Malice in the air was already fading as midnight passed.

 “Don’t, we’re almost at the stable,” Link said, nodding to the structure up the road.

 “Hm. I supposed _bed_ then hashing this out does sound nice,” Revali admitted.  And maybe sleeping on it would help him figure out what to do with this situation.

 He shouldn’t have pushed Link like that, Link was _amnesiac_ for the goddess’ sake! And then Link just went and kissed him, out of nowhere! Well, no, no nowhere, Revali had essentially started it, but it was the principle of the matter.

 “…Are you all right?” Link asked carefully.

 Link had kissed him! And that _did things_ to him even though Link didn’t have his memories and wasn’t quite the person Revali remembered because of it and really this was all far too stressful. Revali would accept more annoying animated skeletons at this point. “I think a bed sounds good right now.”

 Link gave him an odd look. Revali assumed the response had been deemed inadequate for some reason, “I’ll be fine.”

 At least he hoped he would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of the chapter that shows while they're really in sync on some things, Link and Revali are really awkward around each other in other ways. Link only sometimes acting like the person Revali remembers throws him for a loop, while Link wants to remember more about Revali and is kind of quietly resentful Revali's not spilling more while also being really attracted to him. 
> 
> Next time they're going to try actually talking about things again. We'll see how that goes. I think Link is getting close o his snapping point on Revali keeping mum...
> 
> Also fuck the Lynel near the Snowfield Shrine. I did so much running and fast riding to avoid that jerk.


	11. The Truth

 Revali wasn’t able to relax at the stables. They’d gotten in well after midnight and normally a rest would have been welcome but…there was just too much going on.

 Breakfast was a tense affair, with Link informing Revali there was a shrine up a hill to the east, well within walking distance, and they could talk on the way to it.

 Revali had to admit he was right. They had to talk. The only reason they had to talk was because Revali had been an utter coward and not told him as much as possible from the start. Goddess, Revali hadn’t even told him much of anything, even things that had nothing to do with them. Link hadn’t exactly asked but…

 He’d done this all wrong.

 He knew that.

  Link checked to make sure Dusk was settled in while Revali tried to collect his thoughts for how best to go about this. They walked in silence for a little ways out of the stable gate, for privacy’s sake.

 “So I’ll assume you want to start?” Revali asked.

 Link nodded. His fists clenched and so Revali braced himself for a possible outburst. Link had been pushed to the breaking point in the past, a hundred years and amnesia probably didn’t remove the fact that the hero had one.

 “You _didn’t tell me_ ,” Link said to start, and he sounded so wounded that Revali felt like someone had just briefly dunked his heart in ice. “You knew I didn’t remember, you did, and you _didn’t tell me_.”

 “I didn’t know how to,” Revali spat, knowing it was no excuse.

 “That doesn’t make it okay!” Link said.

 “I know that!” Revali said. “I know.”

 It was his reason for doing it, but that didn’t make it a good reason. “I had no idea how to even bring it up and was…” he ground his beak a bit while trying to figure out how to say it now, “unwilling while I was unsure of what your reaction might be.”

 “You were afraid.” Link was too angry to sugarcoat it, which Revali supposed was a good thing. He deserved that one.

 “I was.”

 “Well so was I!” Link snapped.

 “What?” Revali asked.

 “I thought if _I_ brought it up it might make things awkward and…and maybe you wouldn’t want to be around anymore,” Link said quietly.

 “I wouldn’t abandon you to doing this alone,” Revali said. “Not for something as foolish as awkward feelings.”

 And if Link had brought it up…well, in actually Link had been the one to bring it up, Revali just hadn’t…reacted…very well.

 Damn it. He’d been so ready for Link to break his heart he’d completely screwed up when Link hadn’t.

 “You’ve been pretty snippy over awkward feelings this far,” Link said.

 “That I will grant you,” Revali said. Being polite while in a bad mood had never been a skill of his. “But this is on me. I was…I was so ready for things to go wrong I…did not acknowledge that they might not. Or even that they didn’t.”

 “For a cocky, arrogant ass, you’re kind of…cautious,” Link said. Revali was certain Link had been going for something a lot more insulting and swapped the word at the last minute.

 “I would think dealing with who you love deserves some caution,” Revali said.

 “Yeah. I can see that,” Link said.

 Revali couldn’t think of an immediate reply, so they walked in silence for a little while.

 “There’s also…you don’t…see me as me,” Link said.

 “I do. More,” Revali said. “The different attitude and verbosity were a bit of a shock right off the bat, but…I’m getting used to it.”

 “Sorry,” Link said. “I’ll…try not to get too chatty. Don’t want to scare you off.” And damn it, while he was pretending to tease he sounded sincere about it, too.

 “No, no. Damn it. _I’m_ sorry,” Revali said. “I keep making you feel bad for talking when I used to say how much I _wished_ you felt safe to talk more and…”

 His shoulders slumped. He was a terrible partner.

 “It was the pressure, right? You and Mipha both mentioned that,” Link said.

 Revali nodded, “You were under immense pressure. I…I didn’t understand the coping method but I respected it. As much as I could when it meant you rarely talked.”

 “Tell me?” Link asked.

 Revali stared at him and his trusting, big blue eyes. Where did one even start, trying to explain something he hadn’t fully grasped himself? He’d only understood it in the barest of terms, no matter his feelings for Link, because it wasn’t something Link had been willing to share much about. “I…as I said, I did not understand it all but…I can try.”

 Link nodded. He was clearly putting up a façade of calm to hide how eager he was to get something back, even something less than pleasant. So Revali began.

 “You…you used sign. A lot,” Revali said. “I struggled to learn it and early in our relationship—that is, our state of knowing each other, we were not a couple at the time—and I tended to take it out on you. While I am obviously your superior with a bow, my hands…are not as well shaped for some Hylian signs.”

 “I know you didn’t like me at first,” Link said. “I remembered some of that.”

 Revali’s feathers fluffed up a bit in nervousness. Of all the things to remember… “Oh. Well. Anyway. I eventually picked it up and…and just, we started getting along better when we were training together. I was learning to work Medoh and you were trying to improve your archery. We just…it worked. Somehow.”

 Urgh, that sounded terrible. He couldn’t even sum it up properly. But then he’d been a mess of nerves about actually confessing to Link so he could forgive himself for not remembering all the details. He preferred to think of how good it felt after.

 “You would let your guard down around me and…and the you right now, it reminds me of that, the most,” Revali said.

 “It sounds like I had my guard up a lot,” Link said. “It’s like that in a lot of my memories.”

 “I…I felt like it was an honor,” Revali said. “Being someone you could relax around.”

 “You still are,” Link said. “I feel…better, around you.”

 “Then I remain very honored,” Revali said, brushing the back of Link’s cheek with his wingtip.

  Link chuckled softly.

 “What?” Revali asked.

 “You’re very…theatrical,” Link said.

 “And naturally very good at it,” Revali said.

 “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing,” Link said. “It just makes it hard to know when you mean things.”

 Revali chuckled. That was rather the point. “You can try asking.”

 Link smiled softly. Revali swallowed. Link asked, “Will you be honest with me?”

 “Very well,” Revali said. At Link’s raised eyebrow he added a slightly firmer, “Yes.”

 “Do you still love me?” Link asked. “Even if I’m different, now?”

 “Yes.” It was automatic. Even with the differences this was still Link and Revali was still incapable of denying him that.

 Link smiled, “Good.”

 He stepped close and wrapped his arms around Revali, who quickly returned the favor. Revali smiled softly as Link buried his face in Revali’s neck.

 “Needed this, did you?” Revali teased.

 “Yes,” Link said.

 “Well then I am very happy to provide,” Revali said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter one this time but it's emotionally heavy so take that over length. 
> 
> Link WAS going to call Revali "fragile" but thought better of it. Good for Link. That would have started a fight. 
> 
> Well, they've got their interpersonal issues sorted now, back to world saving and rebuilding the relationship now that they're not in such a messy place! Next time: The Sword


	12. The Sword

The Ridgeland Tower was easily conquered via Revali simply flying Link over all the obstacles. After getting the map, they used the cover provided by the top of the tower to try and take out the monsters below.

 “How did I deal with electric monsters before?” Link asked, throwing another magically generated bomb into the water around the tower.

 “Speed and ice weapons, usually,” Revali said. “I’m not much fond of them myself.” He lined up a perfect headshot and took out the last dancing Wizzrobe.

 “They are so annoying,” Link agreed. “But I don’t remember too much about fighting. Well, remember-remember, I clearly remember how to do it. Just not…how I know how.”

 Revali nodded before recalling something else Link had mentioned remembering.

 “You say you remember seeing Medoh turn…” Revali said. “I want to know…do you remember…how you…died?”

 Link shook his head, “Remembered something near Fort Hateno. Zelda sobbing in the dirt. We were…were trying to get there, I think. We were so tired…”

 “Did Fort Hateno survive?” Revali asked.

 “Enough that Hateno Village is large and thriving,” Link said. “…There were no records of me being there, though. I don’t think I made it.”

 “So…somewhere near Fort Hateno…” Revali mused.

 Link nodded. “That’s all I know.”

 “Maybe in time,” Revali said quietly. “That’s the last of them. Should we use your ice-making to fish their things out of the water?”

 “Yeah, probably,” Link said.

 They headed down to collect their bounty. The amount of Lizalfos around meant Revali was quickly given many more boomerangs than he ever really needed but would be forced to accept or face Link’s disappointed stare.

.o.o.o.

 They completed the shrines they could see from the tower over the next few days. Revali was very not happy with their first Guardian fight, but Link personally found it easier than he used to. Revali has still kicked the thing several times while Link took some parts out of it to take back to Robbie later.

 It just felt nice, having everything worked out between them—well, not everything, but the main problem. Revali was still kind of an asshole and it did sometimes get on Link’s nerves, and Link knew Revali, despite trying not to, for a little freaked out if Link said too much in one sitting.

 Plus now…now Revali was a little freer with offering details about before. It wasn’t something he volunteered, but then again Link could forgive him for that because who regularly thought about having to reiterate as much as possible about as many previous events as possible? So long as Link asked, he tried to give comprehensive answers.

 “And if you ask me _why_ you, the princess, and Daruk started exploring the Lost Woods on your own without telling anyone else I won’t have an answer because none of you felt like explaining that particular bit of lunacy to me,” Revali said. “I think Daruk said you knew your way around there? Anyway, long story short no one heard from you three for a week and people got worried even though you all were perfectly fine.”

 “Were you worried?” Link asked.

 Revali scoffed, “Of course not. I said people were worried, not me. If you wanted to go and get eaten by some shadowy monsters in the Lost Woods that wasn’t my business.”

 So yes. Link chuckled, “There are no shadowy monsters in the Lost Woods you know. Just trees carved to look like them.”

 “I’m sure. You can’t even fly over the place, you know,” Revali said, scowling. “It’s such an..urgh, place.”

 “Huh,” Link said, pulling out the slate. Now that he thought about it, he’d probably done enough shrines by now…

 “What are you-?” Revali started before Link pressed the symbol of the Keo Ruug Shrine and they were teleported away.

 “Where are we?” Revali asked, looking around wildly. “Link, what did you do?”

 “Lost woods,” Link said. “Korok Forest.”

 “…Why?” Revali added when Link didn’t elaborate further.

 “Sword’s here,” Link said, shrugging.

 “What do you mean your sword’s here? Why didn’t you get it sooner?” Revali asked, bristling. “Link, I know you’re short quite a lot of memories but that sword is _very important-_ ”

 “I couldn’t.” Just being here, knowing it was here and last time he couldn’t take it…this time would be different. It had to be.

 Revali blinked, “Excuse me?”

 “I…couldn’t,” Link said. He felt Revali try to put a wing on his shoulder but shrugged it off in frustration. “The…the energy. From the shrines. It’s to help me.”

 “Help you? How?” Revali asked as he followed Link towards the clearing where the sword sat in the pedestal.

 “Gives me power for the sword,” Link said.

 “It is good to see you back,” the Great Deku Tree said.

 “That tree talked,” Revali said, stopping dead to stare.

 “You pilot a giant bird made out of _rock_ and you’re mad about a tree talking?” Link asked.

 “Medoh is not made of _rock_ ,” Revali scoffed. “Now what was that about power for the sword?”

 “The sword…I don’t know…needs power and energy to replenish it so it can be used,” Link said. “I…think I wore it out, during the Calamity.”

 “…You wore out the legendary sword of evil’s bane. In a…few weeks? Or less?” Revali asked.

 “I think Zelda might have used it a bit too,” Link muttered, knowing how weak and defensive it sounded. “Plus there were the pre-Calamity monster swarms. Apparently I should have used other weapons for those.”

 “The Master Sword is tired, but you can return power to it,” the Great Deku Tree said. “If you think you are ready.”

 Link nodded, “I think so.”

 “I’m…not so sure about this,” Revali said.

 “Yeah! Link, are you sure?” Hestu piped up from his grove, startling Revali.

 “Okay, who is that?” Revali asked. “…What is that, actually…”

 “Hestu. Big Korok,” Link said, focusing on the sword. He had a feeling this was the right time. “I think I can do this.”

 Hestu waddled over to watch, and Revali looked the large, broccoli-like Korok up and down with confusion.

 Link grabbed the sword.

 It hurt like the last time, but not as much. He felt like it was draining him, but no as badly or as fast. The sword started to give within the pedestal, and Link slowly pulled it out.

 “Whew! Thank goodness!” Hestu said. 

 Link felt dizzy. He distantly heard Revali and Hestu yell his name as he passed out.

.o.o.o.

  _He was young._

_Too young._

_Smaller than in any memory before this one._

_Link yelled at the Great Deku Tree to take “it’s” sword back, only for the tree to rebuff him. The child cried and threw tantrums because while he’d always wanted to be a knight, having to become one as soon as possible, no,_ right now _was not what he wanted._

_“I can’t be the hero!” Link yelled. “I’m just a kid!”_

_“Many Heroes before you have been children.” The Great Deku Tree’s voice was soothing, but it did not soothe Link. “You do not need to fear this. Have faith in yourself.”_

_What faith was there to be had? His life was over now!_

_He stayed there in the Lost Woods for several days. The Koroks eventually made themselves visible to the boy to try and cheer him up. It didn’t help._

_“I can’t be the hero. I’m not what the hero is supposed to be,” Link muttered. His arguments had long since slipped into petulance as he worked towards accepting his predicament._

_“And who says you are not what the hero is supposed to be?” The Great Deku Tree asked._

_“The hero is…is brave, and strong, and fearless!” Link said. “A paragon of…of courage and…I’m scared of even being the hero at all! I’m not what I’m supposed to be!”_

_“And who says that it what you are supposed to be?” the Great Deku Tree asked._

_“Everyone in Hyrule!” Link said._

_“You have not met everyone in Hyrule, young one,” the Great Deku Tree pointed out. Link rolled his eyes. “Perhaps you will find those who see you, and what you are to be as the hero, differently. Or perhaps through them, you will see yourself differently.”_

_“But until I find them, there’s everyone else,” Link said. “People need the Hero to be…things I’m not. And I don’t know what to do.”_

_“I am sure you will think of something,” the Great Deku Tree said._

.o.o.o.

 Revali only barely caught Link before his head hit the stone.

 “Oh, thank goodness!” Hestu panted from behind him.

 “What’s going on?” Revali hissed.

 The giant korok squeaked in fear and shrugged.

 Revali glared at the tree, “Well?”

 Link groaned and stirred before the tree could answer.

 “Link!” Revali said, shaking him slightly. Link sat up with a gasp, cracking their heads together.

 Revali quietly cursed how thick skulled the hero was Link clutched his chest and looked around wildly.

 “It’s okay Link! You’re safe!” Hestu said.

 “Was that the sword’s fault or another memory?” Revali asked, still rubbing his head.

 “Both,” Link said quietly. “…You know you _could_ have told me!”

 “What?” Revali asked, confused. Link sounded…very angry.

 “Not you, him!” Link snapped, pointing at the tree angrily.

 …His partner was mad at an ancient talking tree now. Revali really didn’t know what to do with that, and the headache wasn’t helping.

 “Sha-huh?” Hestu asked. “Tell you what, Link?”

 “That when I got the sword…I…I…” Link hissed and oh.

 Revali remembered Link telling him about it once. It wasn’t a particularly happy memory since he’d irritated Link to the point of Link yelling it at him. He hadn’t thought to bring it up.

 “It was not the time. My words would have held no meaning,” the tree said. “I would have told you that as a child you were terrified of your fate before accepting it. Would that have helped, or confused you further?”

 “It should have been Link’s choice,” Revali muttered. At least Revali had honestly not thought to do it, instead of intentionally keeping quiet…all right he’d been intentionally quiet about other things but he’d been yelled at about that so the tree deserved getting yelled at now.

 “I am ancient, not infallible,” the Great Deku Tree pointed out. “I was worried about confusing you further and apologize for the harm my choice seems to have caused. That was never my intention.”

 “It would have helped,” Link said quietly.

 “I think remembering now…you should see your fears were unfounded,” The Great Deku Tree said. “Is it not brave to trek across this ruined continent in search of answers? Is it not strong to survive doing so? Is it not courageous to charge at the Divine Beasts to stop their rampaging and free them and their pilots?”

 “Did…did you know this would happen?” Revali asked angrily. What the hell was he tree even talking about with that other shit? Had it planned this?

 “No. But you, Hero,” the Great Deku Tree said, smiling softly at Link. “You have always been more than you have known.”

 “I think I just want to lie down,” Link sighed. “…Revali, can we go back to the shrine?”

 “Of course,” Revali said, helping Link to his feet.

.o.o.o.

 “Sounded like…you knew what I was talking about,” Link said as they settled in.

 “You mentioned it once,” Revali said. “So you yelling about it jogged my memory."

 “So…when did I tell you?” Link asked. “About how young I was?”

 “We had finished practicing archery one day,” Revali said. “We decided to camp out that night on Medoh. You were frustrated over your ability…or, lack thereof…at firing midair and I complimented you on your proficiency with so many handheld weapons to try and cheer you up. I was and still am only truly proficient with bows and boomerangs, the latter learned so I had something for close combat other than hitting people with my bow or desperately stabbing them with an arrow.”

 “I…asked how you became able to handle so many weapons so quickly. Your friendship with Mipha explained spears and tridents and your special sword explained one-handed swords but you also could use clubs, sickles, hammers, scimitars, boomerangs, crushers, broadswords, katana…” Revali said. “It was an impressive list.”

 “…I wouldn’t call my use of crushers or katana ‘proficient,’” Link argued half-heartedly.

 “Oh please, you use them perfectly well… _anyway_ , that was when you told me,” Revali said. “You have always been best with one-handed weapons, preferably shield and sword, but you were trained with everything…since you were twelve. I was incredulous and you…seemed to take that as my calling you a liar instead of being in shock at the predicament…well, anyway, it resulted in you screaming at me.”

 “What?” Link asked, wide-eyed.

 Revali chuckled, “Don’t look so sorry, it was ages ago. I think I accidentally pushed you when you were already very stressed and since you were getting used to letting your guard down around me you just snapped a bit. It was fine. I was too shocked at you actually raising your voice to do much more than be quiet.”

 “…Oh,” Link said. “…I thought you said I never strung together more than twenty words a day.”

 Revali raised a brow and began to count off on his fingers. “‘Don’t. Call. Me. A. Liar. You. Jackass. Do. You. Think. I Wanted. This.’ That’s only thirteen, Link. You went back to huffily signing when I explained I wasn’t calling you a liar. I got a verbal ‘sorry’ eventually. So, fourteen.”

 “I called you a jackass?” Link snickered.

 “Yes. It was the first time you verbalized it, however as I picked up sign I realized your initial way of signing my name was a riff on the phrase used for ‘jackass’ where instead of signing ‘man who is a stupid incompetent fool’ which is apparently the accepted combo for ‘jackass’ you signed ‘bird who is a stupid prideful fool.’ You switched later. Urbosa was sorry you did.”

 Link snorted. He knew the current sign, the one he used instinctively for Revali, was the letter R followed by the sign for wings. Presumably he had invented it because he was bored just spelling out Revali’s name and R-Wing was faster and flashier. And Revali was all about flash. Though the prior sign sounded more complicated. “I’ll have to apologize, then.”

 “Oh, she’ll be long over it, I’m sure,” Revali muttered. “Are…are you going to be all right?”

 “That was…a lot hitting at once,” Link said. “Especially since I had no idea and the sword really drained me…” He sighed, tucking his head under Revali’s, “I think I’ll be okay. Just give me some time.”

 “Of course,” Revali said.

 “…And I might be mad at him but I’d better not wake up to you shooting fire arrows at the Great Deku Tree,” Link added.

 “You think so little of me,” Revali scoffed. Link rolled his eyes. He knew that Revali had been planning something. “But if you insist, then of course I’ll stay right here.”

 “Good,” Link said, and tried to go to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And...much longer chapter than last time!
> 
> Srsly, the Ridgeland Tower sucked for me. I killed most of the enemies and then BAM. Blood Moon. Solved it with Revali's Gale later. 
> 
> Given Link's extraordinary skill, one would assume he's trained with a variety of weapons for a VERY long time, and Zelda keeps getting knocked about with how much sooner Link found his destiny than she found hers. So obviously the best foil imo was to have Link be chosen as a young, scared kid with no clue on what to do. There's a big difference between training to be a knight and training to be the one hero to save he entire damn kingdom. 
> 
> Link's starting to get more of himself back, and as we move forward we'll start seeing the effect that has on him. Revali for now is just along for the ride. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun looking up how to sign "jackass" without fingerspelling it and liked the fast series of signs Link thinks about here.


	13. The Study

 Link spent the rest of the next day doing odd trials given to him by the koroks to find shrines in the Lost Woods. Said trials were to be taken alone, so Revali spent his time gathering materials in the Great Deku Tree’s clearing, and occasionally impressing the childlike koroks with trick shots.

 It kept him busy, at least. Revali was a little bored, but Link clearly needed time to deal with getting hit with such strong memories and running out into the rest of the world to get beaten within an inch of their lives because Link wasn’t thinking was a bad idea. At least there were no monsters in the Lost Woods besides the occasional angry animal. It was a safe area.

 If an occasionally annoying one, Revali mused as some smaller koroks stole Hestu’s maracas. Again. It seemed to be a major pastime.

Revali drew his bow and shot the maracas clean out of the thief’s hands. It got some frightened squealing…for about five seconds before the koroks who instead found it “cool” drowned it out.

 Link warped back into the shrine after yet another trial, looking a bit bemused.

 “What happened?” Revali asked.

 “Followed a kid,” Link said. “It was…” He rubbed the back of his neck, seemingly unable to come up with a descriptor.

 “All right then,” Revali said.

 “I had to follow him without being seen,” Link explained. “Which was hard.”

 “Stealth has never been your forte,” Revali agreed. “Suppose you’ve have to improve on it lately.”

 Link nodded, pulling out the slate as he sat down.

 “What are those?” Revali asked when he realized Link was intently looking at something on the slate’s surface.

 “Zelda left me pictures,” Link said quietly. “She…she hoped finding them all would help me.”

 “Well, let’s see them,” Revali said, leaning over.

 There were twelve in total, and Link had marked off nine. The ones remaining were in Eldin by the mountains, a statue east of Satori Mountain, and what looked like the view outside Princess Zelda’s personal study.

 “Do you know any of them?” Link asked.

 “This one’s Eldin,” Revali said. “I’m not sure where but the mountains are obvious. I think I’ve seen that horse statue near Satori Mountain, it’s on the path to the east…and then this was the princess’ study. In the castle.”

 Link swallowed, “I…haven’t been to the castle, yet. It’s crawling with Guardians.” He glanced aside, “Also, Ganon’s there.”

 “There is that,” Revali said. “Hmm. If we did it right, maybe we could drop in quickly, get the memory, and then teleport out.”

 “That makes sense,” Link said. “Do you want to try?”

 “Scoping out the castle might be a good idea, since you’ll eventually have to get there anyway,” Revali said. “Might as well get that tower in Hyrule Field while we’re at it.”

 Link blanched, “Flying might not help there. It’s surrounded by guardians.”

 “Oh,” Revali said. “Well…all the more reason the conquer it, yes?”

 Link cringed. Revali frowned, “What is it?”

 “It’s just…getting through that field the first time was not a fun experience,” Link said. “I had almost no weapons, no armor, and was pretty much just running for my life.”

 “I can see the problem,” Revali admitted. “Hm…if we start from the Monya Tomona shrine we could approach the small island to the west of the castle, and then try to plot a course to the study from there…”

 “That could work…I think the pillars are circled by flying guardians, we’ll have to be careful,” Link said.

.o.o.o.

 After planning and stocking up on supplies—the koroks being surprisingly good at having stocked arrows and potions—they teleported across the continent to the shrine. Looking to speed things up, Revali created a strong updraft he and Link could use to glide to the island.

 Link had to admit he was impressed. He hadn’t really thought much on Revali’s magical abilities, since they didn’t come into play much when fighting off monsters…

 “How do you do that, anyway?” he called over the wind rushing past them.

 “Do what? Make flying look this good?” Revali asked.

 “The updraft,” Link said. “I know only you can do it.”

 “Plenty of Rito can manipulate the winds, I just happen to be a master at waking them when I wish,” Revali said proudly.

 “You’re not answering my question!” Link prodded.

 “It’s just…talent, I think,” Revali said. “I’ve never much dwelt on it. I just…know how.”

 Link sighed. Of course, he suddenly didn’t feel like bragging when Link had too many questions. Of course, it couldn’t be easy. “Well it’s pretty useful.”

 “Useful? Oh, you can do better; it’s incredible!” Revali laughed, soaring in an easy loop about Link that lifted Link a little higher so they could reach the island in peace. “I…oh.”

 Link quickly snapped his glider shut and dropped before the flying guardian could see him. Revali helped him slow down right before landing, and the backed away a bit.

 “Told you,” Link muttered.

 “We _both_ got distracted,” Revali muttered. “I…see you were right as to the quantity of guardians about.”

 “Mm-hm,” Link said. He didn’t have too many ancient arrows, and he didn’t trust himself to hit it perfectly anyway.

 “All right, this is going to be tricky…” Revali mused. “I can see it from here but I don’t know what’s on the way…put on your Snowquill.”

 “Why?” Link asked, pulling it out anyway.

 “We’re going to land on top of the column,” Revali said. “It’s very high up. I’ll give you an updraft to start and when you can’t go higher I’ll grab you and fly the rest of the way. Then we’ll simply glide down and get over the wall. From there I can make another updraft or two to get us to the study.”

 “You’re crazy…okay,” Link said, changing his armor.

 Revali grinned, “That’s more like it.”

 “It’s a good idea,” Link said as he finished pulling the Snowquill on over his usual tunic.

 Things went smoothly for more than halfway up the massive pillar, but by then Revali started having trouble staying close enough to it and making more updrafts for Link so they switched over to Revali just carrying him, as planned.

 “Wow. You can see almost everything from up here,” Link said, shading his eyes and peering around.

 “It is a good view,” Revali agreed. “Should try to get a general sense of the castle while we’re up here.”

 “So…that tower’s the study?” Link asked, pointing.

 “No, that one. More on the side,” Revali said, moving Link’s hand to point at a different area. “Her room was over there too, as was yours.”

 “So, it was separate from the main castle?” Link asked.

 “It wasn’t so hard to access through interior passages, but physically it was a bit off to the side. I think the Princess liked it that way,” Revali mused. “Anyway, ready?”

 Link nodded and jumped off the pillar, paraglider snapping open as he aimed for the tower.

 “We’ll probably get spotted by a few guardians but if you can dodge Medoh’s lasers then those should be no problem!” Revali called.

 Revali proved to be right; they were targeted by two turrets as they passed over the wall and were forced to drop to avoid them. However, they started from so high up to begin with that it didn’t impede them in getting to Zelda’s study. What did impede them was a circling flying guardian, forcing them to land on the roof so it would pass the bridge without seeing them. They were then spotted by a turret, but managed to drop to the bridge and bolt inside the room without anyone getting shot.

 “Well, that was fun,” Revali panted.

 Link nodded, “Starting from really high up has its perks.”

 Revali chuckled softly before sighing as he looked at the room, “Oh, the princess would have a fit if she saw this…”

 Link took in the destroyed room, “Wow…”

 “Well?” Revali asked as they watched the flying guardian’s beam pass back again. “Anything?”

 “Let me see,” Link said, pulling out the slate and looking at the picture. He tried to position himself in the doorway without stepping outside into the sentries’ lines of sight. “I think I…”

 It hit him.

.o.o.o.

 Link gasped as he came out of the memory.

 “You all right?” Revali asked.

 “…I remember the king being a prick,” Link said.

 “Oh good, only took you several weeks, well done,” Revali said. Link frowned at him and he backed up a bit, “That is to say…what was it about? What did you remember?”

 Link frowned, “Zelda and I were about to leave, I think to meet up with you and the other Champions. The king stopped us. I knelt…I was glaring at the ground almost the whole time, he was scolding Zelda for not doing enough. Said the kingdom was whispering behind her back…”

 “I never liked him,” Revali admitted. It was so casual that Link fought back a laugh. So very _Revali_ to calmly admit something like that with no attempts at mitigation. “First I was annoyed because of the previously mentioned jealousy over you and so was annoyed with the royal family in general, and _then_ I was annoyed due to how you were annoyed and how he interfered with our work for the sake of Zelda praying a little more or…whatever it was.”

 “Trying to awaken her powers, you know that,” Link scolded softly. He knew Revali was being extra-flippant on purpose, trying to cheer Link up by acting like nothing mattered but this…this mattered. “I can see why his ghost was so regretful. What if that was the last time he saw her?”

 “Hmph. Cliché, if anything,” Revali said.

 “Ass,” Link said.

 “You love it,” Revali said, smirking. He cleared his throat, “We should see if there’s anything worth salvaging in here. You mentioned Impa's still around, maybe there’s some things she might want.”

 Link nodded, and they got to work trying to scavenge up bits of the past from the wreckage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny story, when I first started writing this there wasn't a title for well over a week so in my computer the document name is "Breezy" because I had to name it something. 
> 
> Zelda's Study is such a fun challenge to get to. In-game I made it to the base of the tower, chugged stealth potions, and climbed. Partway up it started raining so I stood on a leaf-covered ledge for a few in-game hours until the rain let up, and then rushed inside. 
> 
> Link's starting to feel more of the pressure, but so far he's able to shrug it off. Korok Trials and a snarky Rito are good distractions.


	14. The House

 “Okay, you were right,” Revali panted. “This is an awful tower and I hate it.”

 “Well…we made it,” Link offered, grinning.

 Revali nodded, exhausted. He had underestimated how hard it was dodging so many guardians at once, especially since his better mobility in the air meant he had to be the bait. “We made it.”

 Actually, even getting to the tower had been a little complicated. They’d started at the Ridgeland tower thanks to a direct teleport from the slate, and several days making a wide trek to the base of Mount Daphnes, at which point they’d gone up the mountain. Then sun had gone down and they’d ended up fighting skeletons for a good part of the night and only getting some sleep once the sun came back up again. Around noon they set off from the peak, and had to dodge lasers upon close enough proximity to the tower.

 It hadn’t been pleasant.

 “At least we can teleport out of here,” Revali sighed. “Suppose we should rest up before tackling Naboris at last…”

 “Agreed,” Link said.

 “Do we just pick a stable then?” Revali asked, leaning over as Link pulled out the slate.

  “I was thinking my house in Hateno,” Link said.

 “You own a house.” Revali was incredulous. Wasn’t Link an amnesiac wanderer?

 “It sort of just…happened?” Link offered. “I had a lot of money-”

 “How?” Revali asked.

 “I just…pick up a lot of stuff. Monster parts, ore, that kind of thing. Like we did to make money for bomb arrows,” Link said. “So, anyway, I sold things and had money. In Hateno there was a house they were going to get rid of but I needed a place to stay when I was in the area so I got it cheap.”

 “Huh,” Revali said. “So. A…house.”

 “Yeah. I gave the builders extra money to give me some storage space and old furniture and such. We can…go there. I mean.”

 “Might as well,” Revali said. If there was storage space, they could offload the excess weaponry while they were at it. “Let’s go.”

.o.o.o.

 Revali yelped as they appeared in the new region and instantly were bombarded with rain. “Damn it, Link!”

 “I don’t control the weather, this way!” Link called, jogging down the hillside and across the small bridge. He pulled out the thick key and unlocked the door to his house. Revali pushed past him to get inside first and gave his wings, soaked from shielding himself from the downpour, a good shake once he was out of the rain.

 Link made an annoyed noise at him before turning right and heading into a little alcove. He returned with a few blankets they could dry themselves with, giving one to Revali and pointedly dropping another one the small spray of puddles Revali had created on the floor.

 “Sorry,” Revali said. He clearly wasn’t.

 Link shook his head and went to dry himself off as well. He soon realized that even the short time they’d been in the rain had penetrated his clothes and went to change.

 “Get my spares out too,” Revali asked as Link dug around in his pack.

 Link nodded, tugging out his Champion’s tunic and some pants along with a tunic and pair of pants for Revali. He stripped and hung his wet clothes over the backs of two chairs before starting to pull on the dry pants.

“That’s new.”

 Link turned to see Revali peering at a scar on his back. He had a pretty good idea which one. “Lynel.”

“Really?” Revali only just didn’t manage to hide his shock.

 Link tried to smile but was pretty sure it looked a little bitter, “Yeah. Sidon already told me how I used to be able to fight two at once. I was even rustier right when I woke up.”

 “And is that what the shrines give you back, other than power to get your sword?” Revali asked. “Did the Shrine of Resurrection somehow…scatter your abilities?” He sounded confused just saying it.

 Link shrugged, pulling his tunic on over his head. “Not sure. Not like I could activate them before.”

 “So, you remember that?” Revali asked, chuckling. “Oh, I remember all the things the princess tried with those shrines…I think making you and the four of us Champions hold hands around it while she tried to use the slate on every other part of it was the best…”

 “That sounds amazing,” Link admitted, grinning before his face fell. “Hope I remember it, eventually…”

  “I’m sure it will come,” Revali said gently before smirking. “Now. I’m fairly certain when one young man invites another, very handsome young man over it means he’ll be serving dinner?”

 “I always make dinner. Can you even cook?” Link asked.

 “I can cook!” Revali snapped, voice bordering on a rather undignified squawk.

 “Sure you can. Just get dressed,” Link told Revali as he headed over to the small stove Bolson had managed to salvage for him. He decided to go with some basic mixed simmered fruit—easy but warm.

 He looked up to see Revali had so far only pulled on a dry pair of pants and felt his cheeks heat up as he looked the Rito up and down. Any ego Revali had about his looks was more than deserved, in Link’s book.

  “Can you not?” Revali muttered, turning slightly.

 “Not what?” Link asked. He would have thought Revali would be fine with being admired.

 “I know it looks bad,” Revali huffed, trying to cover some patchier spots of feathers with a wing.

 “It doesn’t, really,” Link said. Besides, he’d be one to criticize, his torso was a massive map of scars by now.

  “Don’t lie to me,” Revali muttered.

 Link tugged it down, revealing the patchier feathers, “I still think you’re extraordinarily handsome, if it counts.”

 Revali’s eyes widened slightly before he relaxed, “Well, if you insist…”

 He leaned in to give Link’s ear a quick nip before nudging him aside. “Smells like the food’s done!”

 Link rolled his eyes but followed Revali over to the stove. He could use the hot food.

.o.o.o.

 Revali woke up with Link snuggled into his chest, the both of them on a simple pallet bed in the upper level of Link’s house.

 Link’s house. Revali frowned slightly as he remembered he’d never been to the home Link had grown up in, by the time he knew the hero Link had been living in the castle for years, training and following the princess.

 Whenever Link had tried to visualize a life after the Calamity, it had always involved his own place. He’d wanted to get out of the castle and just live on his own terms. Revali had privately hoped it would be somewhere in the Tabantha or Hebra regions for perfectly selfish reasons, but he had to admit, with the current state of the world…this place in Hateno was…nice. Goddess knew his own roost in the Rito Village was long gone, as well.

 He ground his beak a bit. He didn’t like thinking about what was lost. There was nothing that could be done about it, and there were things now that _needed_ doing.

 Link stirred, “Vali?”

 “Right here,” Revali said quietly. Link hummed and nuzzled into his neck, making Revali chuckle. “Come on now, hero. We have a job to do, don’t we?”

 Link laughed and sat up, “Since when are you the responsible one?”

 “Maybe I just want to watch you get dressed,” Revali teased before squawking when Link hit him with a pillow. “Hey!”

 Revali tried to catch every little detail as they dressed, tried to make sure he remembered this perfectly. They weren’t likely to get another moment like this until after freeing Naboris, and he had no idea how well that would go.

 Lightning. He hated lightning.

 Link scowled as he tried to pull a comb through his hair and had trouble. He clearly hadn’t slept on a pillow in a while and the moving about on the fabric seemed to have made his hair more tangled than usual.

 “Here,’ Revali said, stepping forward.

 Link stilled as Revali began to gently preen his hair.

 Revali stopped, “Is this all right?”

 Link nodded.

 “All right then,” Revali murmured before resuming his actions. Link relaxed against him, and then reached up and carefully ran his fingers between Revali’s braids, causing Revali to shudder slightly.

 “That okay?” Link asked.

 “Mm,” Revali agreed, reaching over so his feathers ghosted over Link’s cheek. “Do you remember this?”

 He took one of Link’s loose forelocks between his fingers and started carefully braiding it. As he tied the braid off and went to work on the other side, he felt Link fall still in the telltale way he did when he remembered something.

 Link gasped softly as Revali finished the second braid. Revali smiled softly. “Well?”

 “You said it was…personal.” Link blushed a bit and Revali drank it in. “Intimate.”

 “It is. I love you,” Revali said. Might as well get that out in the open again, if they were to be risking their lives soon.

 “I love you too,” Link said quietly as he fingered the ends of one braid.

 It was a lovely sentimental moment. Tragically it needed breaking, and Revali was only too good at such things.

 “Well come on then,” Revali said. “We need to save the world so we can do this whenever we want.”

 Link stifled his snickers with one hand and used the other to sign that Revali was an asshole. Revali laughed as Link pulled out the slate to pick their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice little bit of quiet before the storm. Or more accurately, before the zappy camel of doom. 
> 
> Next time: Gerudo Town! Crossdressing! Bozai! Sand seals! and of course COMEDY!


	15. The Desert

 “So…you actually have a plan to get into Gerudo Town?” Revali asked. “I’ll admit, I’m impressed.” He grinned as he saw Link blush. “And now I’m also very interested.”

 “Crossdressing,” Link said bluntly.

 “What?” Revali asked.

 “The plan is crossdressing,” Link replied, pulling a silky green outfit out of his bag. “Make sure no one sees me change.”

 Revali sighed and turned around to keep watch out the front of the shrine. “So you’ve done this before.”

 Link made an affirmative noise. Revali chuckled.

 Eventually he heard less shifting around and turn back to face Link, “Are you…done?”

 Link wore a green two-piece outfit that bared his midriff. Somehow the bandeau top stayed up and disguised Link’s pectorals at the same time which Revali had to admit was rather impressive. The pants also hung a bit low due to Link’s nonexistent hips which was nice. Sadly, Link also had to hide his face with a veil, but then nothing was perfect.

“Wow,” Revali said as Link carefully tagged his braids forward from under the veil. “I…wow.”

 Link rolled his eyes at him.

 “Here, let me,” Revali said as it became clear Link’s braids were being uncooperative. “The problem is that the veil over your face is tucked over your ears and they’re catching so…there.”

 He looked Link up and down, “I can’t believe it but…that works.”

 Link was well and truly disguised. Revali was impressed.

 “Stop staring,” Link huffed, sharply elbowing his way past Revali to head for the gate.

 “I think _not_ ,” Revali said. It wasn’t everyday he got to see Link so unarmored and casual, and if it took a crossdressing mission objective to achieve that then so be it.

 They both walked up to the entrance and sure enough the guards’ spears were raised to Revali.

 “Just wanted to make sure that’s the waiting area,” he said, gesturing to the little tent shading a spot by the gate. One young Hylian man was already in it.

 “Yes,” one guard said. “You may wait there for the vai to finish her business.”

 “All right then…vai,” he said, chuckling at Link. “I’ll just be here then. Let me know when you’re ready.”

 Link for some reason followed Revali over to the tent, fumbling around in his bag.

 “Here,” Link said, passing his snow boots to the Hylian in there. “I got the picture you wanted too, so I’ll need those Sand Boots.”

 “You…you found it?” the man asked. “But the eighth heroine is a myth? I…I just didn’t know how to talk to you and-”

 Oh, this was rich. Revali sat down as Link casually ignored the man’s chatter and insisted on getting the sand boots he’d been promised in return for a picture on his slate. Revali supposed Link’s voice was ambiguous enough, but really. This was a fellow Hylian! Shouldn’t he notice? Revali was a Rito and…okay, actually, if he didn’t know Link maybe he _wouldn’t_ be able to tell, Link and Zelda really did look a lot alike now that he thought about it…

 Hylians needed more obvious dimorphism. Link and Zelda probably could have just swapped outfits and nobody could have told the difference. They even had the same eye and hair colors!

 Link cheerfully claimed the boots and headed into town. Revali smirked at the Hylian man gaping after Link.

 “Um…are…you know her?” the man asked Revali.

 “Obviously,” Revali said, pulling out his bow to tend to it. He hoped Link had enough for a lot more bomb arrows. They only had twenty between the two of them and Link had sunk nearly that many just into the Malice monster on Medoh, more had gone into disabling the cannons. Depending on how many it took to stop Naboris itself, they might not have any left for what was inside.

 And yet _somehow_ they had shock and ice arrows for days. Well, they had Hebra to blame for the latter.

 “So, um, have you two, uh, known each other long?”

 Revali chuckled at the man, “We’ve known each other for quite a while, yes.”

 “Oh,” the man sounded disappointed.

 “Mm,” Revali agreed. “You know, desperation is the biggest urn off for the Gerudo, yes?” How had Urbosa put it one time? ‘As long as they’re not desperate most of my sisters will take any man with a work ethic and a pulse who treats her well?’ Something like that.

 “What are you talking about?” the man asked.

 “You. You are acting desperate, camping directly outside the city walls. Plenty of the women will go to the Oasis looking for a husband who is a trader,” Revali said. “And why did you have Sand Boots, anyway?”

 “Um, jogging. Gerudo like fit men, right?”

 Revali had to assume the man was delusional, “So you…jog in front of their city all day? Yes. That looks desperate. So does making a bet you think the other person cannot win at all.”

 “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about,” the Hylian said.

 “Fine,” Revali chuckled. “Don’t believe me.”

  Revali went back to tending his weapons only to snap his head up at a sharp whistle.

 “Why do you have sand seals?” he groaned as he stood and walked over to Link.

 “We need them to get to Naboris,” Link said.

 “I can fly,” Revali pointed out.

 “And get electrocuted out of the sky,” Link said. “Look, Chief Riju has a plan and she said to bring sand seals. So, we’re bringing sand seals.”

  “Well then, let’s be going,” Revali said, grinning.

 “Jackass. I’m not fighting in this,” Link huffed, leading the sand seals back to the shrine. Revali noticed that Link’s feet no longer sunk and caught in the sand. The effects of the boots won from Bozai, no doubt.

 Upon reaching the shrine, Link quickly thrust his seal’s reins to Revali before storming into the covered part of the shrine to change while Revali guarded the entrance.

 “You know, I rather like that outfit,” Revali admitted.

 Link huffed at him as he ditched the silky top and pants in favor of armor.

 “What? You merely look quite dashing in green,” Revali said innocently.

 Link scoffed as he placed a jeweled headband on.

 “What’s that?” Revali asked, the sparkling topaz catching his eye.

  “Shock resistance,” Link said, pulling a second one out of his bag and passing it to Revali. Unlike the mostly-metal one Link had, this was clearly made for a Rito with fabric and leather woven around the gems and ties obviously meant to attach to his braids in the back.

 “Not really my style but then I suppose not all armor can be,” Revali said, placing it on his head. “Now, where to?”

.o.o.o.

 Stopping Naboris was far more complicated than Link thought it would be. Even with “tame” sand seals, even with a second archer backing him up, even with the thunder helm, it was all an utter mess.

 The thunder helm’s area of protection was fairly small. Link had already guessed it would be too small for Revali to fly in but it was barely large enough for three constantly-moving sand seals, only one of which had a competent diver. The sandstorm’s low visibility didn’t help either and Revali had started hissing curses at his third missed shot which had the bonus of messing with Link’s concentration.

 At last Naboris fell to its knees. A platform opened up and Riju called that she would ready Gerudo Town for emergency medical care, in case they needed it.

 “We’re men, how would we even get in?” Revali asked as he flew Link up to the quickly-rising ramp.

 “Maybe…maybe they have ‘this voe is dying, make an exception’ protocol?” Link asked.

 “I suppose that makes sense,” Revali said. “Now what?”

 “Now I tell you gentlemen how to get through Naboris as quickly as possible,” Urbosa’s voice said. “Don’t want to keep a woman waiting, do you?”

 “Of course not,” Revali said mockingly. Link groaned and shoved at him.

 “Then look alive!” Urbosa warned and Revali and Link turned around to see a Guardian Scout start to wake up.

 Revali quickly fired into its eye, reducing the scout to scrap which Link shoveled into his bag.

 “Well. That was easy,” Revali said.

 “Now that you’re not going to die, I’ll assume Revali has told you all about Divine Beasts having five terminals plus the main one?” Urbosa said.

 “Mipha got the honor, actually,” Revali said. Link realized that while Medoh had been able to see the other beasts easily, Naboris was cut off by the cliffs. Urbosa had no idea Mipha was also free, and only knew about Revali because he was here.

 “Two free already? Wonderful! Well, the central terminal should be the easiest. Then you will have to rotate the sections of Naboris’ torso to get the rest,” Urbosa said.

 “Or fly,” Revali said, smirking.

 “I’m the only one who can use the slate,” Link pointed out.

 “I can use the slate,” Revali muttered. “Just…not to control anyone else’s beast.”

 “Oh, it’s like nothing ever happened,” Urbosa laughed and Link felt himself go red in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Revali REALLY likes the outfit. I dyed the Gerudo outfit green in my playthrough (and the Snowquill navy and the Zora red and Gerudo Armor Royal Blue and the Hylian stuff purple and the Hylian Armor green....I dyed a lot of stuff). 
> 
> Link mostly just ran into town, got arrows and two shock-resistant tiaras, and then got the seals. I wanted o do Revali meeting Riju but couldn't make a full scene of it so skipped right to the annoyance that is geting aboard Naboris. Sand Seals are hard to drive!
> 
> Next time: Vah Naboris exploration and the Thunderblight


	16. The Lightning

 Revali found Naboris to be an utter chore compared to Medoh. Medoh was open, and airy, and _sensible_ while Naboris had these odd rotating cylinders from hell they had to contend with. 

 “Damn it,” Link muttered as the pedestal with the terminal over-rotated yet again.

 “Maybe it’s going by thirds?” Revali wondered. “I don’t think they rotate the same number of degrees as each other, either…”

 “There!” Link said as he finally rotated the platform into an upright position. Revali quickly flew him up to it. “Okay…now the other three.”

 “It looks like one is on the head,” Revali said. “And another in a hump…I’m not sure where this is indicating the third one is…”

 To Revali’s immense annoyance simply flying out to the terminal on the head was not an option, oh no, they had to solve an electrical problem first.

 “Come on,” Link said, patting him on the shoulder after they went through the whole convoluted process. “Fly me up to the hump and we’ll have a look around.”

 Revali smirked. The Divine Beasts may have been impossible to climb, but he could fly with enough precision to easily overcome that. With some careful maneuvering he and Link were able to perch on the ledge from one of the arched openings in the upper part of the camel’s pavilion-like hump.

 “I think we can get to that,” Link said, peering inside and calculating the sparking ball, the elevator, and the locked shrine on the lower level.

 “Keep in mind it will be difficult for me to fly in that enclosed a space,” Revali said. There would be barely enough room to create a decent updraft, and probably not enough room to glide to warrant one anyway.

 Link gave him a questioning look and Revali sighed, “not that flying will be strictly necessary, mind you.”

 “Can you…use wind to make anything other than updrafts?” Link asked.

 Revali shrugged. He’d managed a few horizontal drafts if that was what Link wanted, but those wouldn’t be useful until they got back to the main part of the beast. “I suppose a few other things. Why?”

 “Just wondering,” Link said before pushing himself off the sill and dropping into the rotunda.

.o.o.o.

 “Any warnings?” Link asked Urbosa as they approached the main control unit.

 “The monster you are about to face is blindingly fast,” Urbosa said. “It wields a shield and sword. The shield can be temporarily disabled, but will regenerate. And it can call down lightning.”

 “Let’s hope these gemstones do their job,” Revali muttered as he took the remaining bomb arrows and consolidated them in his quiver.

 “If I lure it to the floor that may give you a little more room to shoot,” Link suggested. “We could reconfigure the other two sections of the body beforehand, as well.”

 “I don’t like the idea of you playing bait,” Revali said. “These things are dangerous.”

 “Who said anything about playing bait?” Link asked. “I’ll still be fighting it, and down there I’ll have more room.”

 Revali clicked his beak but didn’t say anything. Link took that as winning the argument and went to reconfigure the left and right cylinders.  

 “Link does have a point,” Urbosa admitted.

 “I’m doing this under protest!” Revali called as he flew over to one of the better-positioned platforms.

 Link gave him a thumbs-up before approaching the pedestal. “Anything else, Urbosa?”

 “The monster is a formidable adversary made by Ganon,” she said firmly. “Do not allow it to defeat you as it did me. Fight for your life…and its death!”

 “Will do,” Link said, activating the console.

 He jumped back as the malice quickly flooded out and hurriedly made his way to the floor, only to get knocked off his feet from behind as the Thunderblight swept after him.

 “You idiot, get up!” Revali barked, managing to shoot the blight in the back before it repositioned and rushed Link again.

 This time Link was ready and he just barely managed to parry its hook before swinging the Master Sword in for a blow. The blight staggered and hissed before moving so quickly it blurred. While Link blocked the next blow, he wasn’t fast enough to parry and the blight simply took another angle while Revali loudly swore as it moved too fast to hit.

 “Careful, it’s lightning fast!” Urbosa warned.

 Link managed the next parry and got in two hits before rolling back as a bomb arrow exploded in the monster’s back. He jumped back in to take another swing but the blight was alert again and blocked Link with its shield, forcing Link to awkwardly twist to avoid the hook.

 Revali scored another blow in its back as it remained foolishly immobile, and the monster screamed.

 Link backed up, ready for whatever tricks this one would try now that it was wounded enough. Waterblight had flooded the room and Windblight had summoned sentries, so what would this one do?

 The Thunderblight flew up—Link saw Revali hurriedly back off and retreat to one of the other platforms. Since the blight was still Revali shot at it again, only for lightning to intercept the arrow as the Thunderblight crackled with electricity, raising its arms.

 Dozens of metal columns sprung into being and crashed downwards. Link rushed to dodge them, and it proved to be a good move as a wild storm of lightning danced between the poles, which then exploded.

 The Thunderblight roared and repeated the action. Link bolted again, unsure of what exactly he could do to stop it from doing this. It was too high up in the air for him to hit, and Revali’s arrows weren’t doing much to it either. He would have to try and get back up towards the central unit…damn, they hadn’t left any columns well configured for that…

 Revali made a go at flying around the Thunderblight before it could pin him to the wall, only for the lightning raining down to the columns on the floor to send him sprawling as he got caught in it. He collided with the wall and slid down the curve groaning.

 “Revali!” Link yelled, going to run over only to get blocked by a wall of electrified columns. Link whipped his shield out to power through the exploding metal-

 Wait.

 Metal.

 The columns were metal.

  Link dropped his sword in order to grab the slate as Revali, clearly smarting from the crash and explosion, finally sat up.

 “Link, what are you doing, you idiot?” Revali yelped.

 “I have an idea!” Link said as the columns rained down again. He quickly used Magensis on one, tossing it up near the Thunderblight.

 To his delight, it worked, and the monster seemed to shock itself.

 “…Oh,” Revali said.

 “It can’t do that anymore,” Link said, grinning. “Come on, we need to-”

 “Move!” Revali yelled, darting forward and snatching Link up by the shoulders as the Thunderblight dove at them.

 “Revali, the sword!” Link yelled.

 “The what…oh you have got to be…” Revali growled as he realized the Master Sword was still down on the floor. “Throw a boomerang or something, I’ll get it!”

 He tossed Link on the ledge up by the console and dove back down towards the floor as the Thunderblight reversed course and started rising again.

 Link quickly drew a bow and shot at the monster to try and keep it distracted for the few precious seconds it would take Revali to get the sword and get back.

 The Thunderblight too the hit, but was clearly unhappy as Revali zipped past it on his way back. It screamed in rage and flung it’s shield after him.

 “Revali!” Link yelled in warning but he was too late, the shield clipped Revali’s wing and knocked him off-course. He smashed headfirst into the console, the Master Sword bouncing acorss the platform to Link’s feet. Revali groaned, tried to push himself up, and fell still.

 Link saw red and jumped off the platform, swinging the sword down onto the Thunderblight’s head. He somehow landed with his legs around its neck and adjusted his plan. He grabbed its hair with one hand, yanking its head back even as it dropped its shield to try and pry him off with its clawed hand, and started sawing at its throat with the sword. It’s hook gouged into his side but Link stayed focused on the malice that spurted from its throat and burned his hands as the Thunderblight let out a final scream.

 Link ended up falling on top of Urbosa as she was released from the Blight.

 “That…was one way to do that…” Urbosa panted. “Well done…”

 “Revali…” Link said.

 “I think he was just…unconscious,” Urbosa said. “I need to get back in control. Can you change the platforms so we can get back up?”

 Link nodded, quickly shifting things around so he and Urbosa had a path.

 Urbosa hurried to the console, but checked on Revali before activating it, “He’s breathing. Just out cold. Or possible electrocuted unconscious, he took some nasty shocks even with that headband as protection…”

 Link nodded, sinking to sit by Revali as Urbosa took back Naboris.

 “Now, we just need to get…Link! Your side!” Urbosa said.

 Link glanced…yes, it was still bleeding from the hook. Oh, she was worried about that…right. Right. Bad. Focus. He shook his head, pulling out the slate, and waved Urbosa closer.

 “Can you use it to call for help?” she asked.

 “Hang on,” Link said, grabbing Revali with his other hand. As Urbosa took hold he tapped the shrine by the city and they vanished from inside Naboris.

 Link panted heavily as they reappeared at the shrine. Thankfully Riju had guards waiting for them, who bowed to Urbosa with cries of happiness at her survival.

 “We all need medical attention, rather urgently,” Urbosa said firmly. “Yes, both voe as well.”

 “Lady Riju already gave her orders, Lady Urbosa,” Buliara said, crouching down to pick up Revali.

 “Good,” Urbosa said as two other guards helped her to her feet and a third tried to help Link stand before handing him her spear to use as a crutch on his other side, to bear the weight better.

 “You will have contact with no vai in the town,” Buliara told Link, who tried not to laugh since she knew he’d already been in there. “You and the Rito will recover in the palace and leave as soon as you are able.”

 “Mm,” Link agreed. He was too tired for anything else. Buliara nodded curtly and turned to lead them all inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have it in my head that Revali would be absolute shit against Thunderblight Ganon. The thing is lightning fast, so almost no time to aim an arrow at it; you can only stagger it with a shield deflect and Revali doesn’t use shields (hence only getting hits in when Link parried and being in trouble when the thing leaves Link to deal with him); the raining-lightning technique makes the air nearly un-maneuverable; and even if you get it stunned and use Ancient Arrows (as I accidentally did for two shots) you barely have time to hit it for more than one shot and it only does so much damage. So yeah, this fight was always going to go badly for him. 
> 
> Next time we have convalescence in the palace and planning on what to do next!


	17. The Waiting

 Revali sighed as he woke up, “I’d better not be dead.”

 “No one’s dead, so don’t ruffle your feathers.”

 He turned to see Urbosa on another cot, wearing clothing remarkably similar to Link’s disguise minus the veil. He clicked his beak softly, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you out of armor.”

 “I could say the same,” Urbosa said. “Might want to change that. You’re still in what you wore to fight.”

 Ah. That was why he was so uncomfortable. “I’ll thank your guards for not trying to undress me.”

 “I don’t think they’d know what was appropriate and what wasn’t,” Urbosa admitted blithely. “They had to shove Link’s tunic up for some bandages but then they pulled it right back down. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so urgent.”

 “Is Link all right?” Revali asked as he fiddled with his armor’s shoulder straps. Link at least _seemed_ to be sleeping well…

 “Bit of a bad wound on his side but he remained awake until we got here and seems to be responding well to rest and potions,” Urbosa said. “I think he left himself open for a moment when you went down.”

 Revali scowled. A moment would have been all that monster needed, and to have been the cause of it, inadvertently or no…it really put him off. “So, how long was I out?”

 “Over a day,” Urbosa said. “You weren’t unconscious, really, just dozing off and on and in too much pain to be coherent until we got a few potions in you. Or on you. I wasn’t much attention to what happened, they had to bind my ribs and that was a little distracting.”

 “I can imagine,” Revali said. “So, Link managed, then?”

 “He jumped on its head,” Urbosa said, smirking.

 “He did _what_?” Revali squawked. He glanced over to Link, who thankfully didn’t stir.

 “Jumped right on its head and cut its throat,” Urbosa said. “I was very impressed.”

 “And you knew I wouldn’t react well,” Revali said, scowling. Urbosa simply smirked and he huffed. “Why did we want you back again?”

 “I’m just teasing you, Revali,” Urbosa said.

 “I hadn’t noticed,” Revali said dryly.

 “It’s good to see you in such good spirits,” Urbosa laughed before frowning slightly, “Given, ah…”

 Revali realized she must have talked to Link by now, while they’d both been awake but Revali was not, “Yes. The memories.”

 “At least he’s still with us,” Urbosa said. “And…he seems to remember some things.”

 “Some of that took time,” Revali said. “But yes.”

 “Ah, so the memories can come back, good,” Urbosa said. “So. What is our status then?”

 “You’re the third freed, only Daruk is left,” Revali said. “As long as Ganon is alive all monsters beyond those controlling the Divine Beasts are revived every two weeks or slightly sooner. Link is slowly regaining his strength thanks to using the ancient shrines, which now work. Zelda has held Ganon sealed in the castle for a hundred years. The continent in general is in ruins.”

 “Cheery,” Urbosa sighed. “Riju told me similar.”

 “Than why did you ask me?” Revali asked.

 “Maybe I’m just happy to see you again and wanted to talk,” Urbosa said.

 Revali stared at her.

 “I’m being serious. Keep talking,” Urbosa said, waving her hand in a motion to continue. “I’ve spent quite a while alone in Naboris, talking is nice.”

 “We were, I don’t know, dormant or something along with the beasts,” Revali said.

 “Not for the last few months, no,” Urbosa pointed out. “Come on, Revali.”

 Revali sighed again. He liked talking, he really did, but Urbosa just had this…this talent. This ability to see what you didn’t say and bring it up anyway, to remain unflappable no matter the comments sent her way and it made conversing with her aggravating. Zelda had loved it, it had probably made it easier on the reticent princess to have her unsaid words easily read but Revali said what he wanted heard and didn’t like people hearing what he didn’t say.

 “…I hate Lynels. I really, really do,” he decided. “And Link is not as proficient in fighting them as he once was, which makes them even more annoying.” 

 “Do tell?” Urbosa said.

 “They are fast, take forever to just die, and even if you kill them Ganon brings them back after two weeks! What’s not to hate?” Revali complained. “Urgh, and some Bokoblins are actually trying to use bows now, it is a _disgrace-_ ”

.o.o.o.

 Revali was up and about when Link woke up, sitting in a chair and fiddling with his bow. Urbosa must have left, since they were alone. Link assumed she was with Riju, since the little chief wanted to know her predecessor so badly.

 Link went to sit up, only for Revali to pin him with a sharp look.

 “Stay in bed,” Revali told him. “Honestly…”

 Link grumbled before he settled back and tugged the covers over a bit.

 “Are you sure?” Revali asked.

 Link nodded.

 “Very well,” Revali said. “Far be it for me to deny you my presence.”

 Link chuckled softly as Revali shucked everything but his loose pants and slid under the covers with Link. Link was indeed naked except for his under-shorts, and Revali smiled at Link’s happy sigh.

 Link shuffled closer, and Revali wrapped his wings around him.

 Link burrowed himself even closer to Revali, enjoying the feel of every single soft yet sturdy feather against his skin. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

 “Oh, you can do better than that, I’m _incredible_ ,” Revali said.

 “Revali. Don’t,” Link said. “I’m serious. I was worried.”

 “I’m fine. Truly,” Revali said. “I was worried when you didn’t wake up quite so quickly. I thought you might have severely injured yourself while I was unconscious.”

“…Urbosa told you about the-”

 “Yes,” Revali said sharply.

 Link chuckled, shaking his head.

 “It’s not funny!” Revali said.

 “It’s a little funny.”

 “It was _stupid_.”

 “It worked,” Link pointed out.

 “And you got a lovely hole in your side,” Revali said, beak starting to click as he became snappish.

 “I’ve had holes in my side before,” Link pointed out. His map of scars was proof of that.

 “Oh, don’t you even _start_ with that,” Revali growled, sitting up and jabbing a wingtip into Link’s chest. “You’ve lived through it before, sure, but that doesn’t mean you’ll live through the next one and if I have to get Mipha to help me drill that into your stubborn little skull here, believe me, her inner nurse will be all to happy to help me out!”

 “…You freaked, huh?” Link asked.

 “You are exhausting,” Revali muttered, flopping back down. “Utterly exhausting.”

 Link scoffed, “Then leave.”

 “You know I won’t,” Revali murmured. “I won’t lose you.”

 “Yeah. Same.”

 “…You were worried too, hmm?” Revali asked.

 “You weren’t exactly okay yourself,” Link said.

 “Hmph. Anyway, do we even have a plan after this?”

 “There’s this oasis monster. We can hunt it for parts and sell them to make medicine,” Link said.

 “Yay. Monster hunt,” Revali muttered.

 “We get to throw bombs at it and then shoot it a lot,” Link offered. “You could boomerang it too.”

 “Well…I _suppose_ ,” Revali said. “Because I’m so magnanimous, you know.”

 “Heh. I love you,” Link said into his neck.

 “I love you too,” Revali said. “Get some rest, Hero. We’ll head for the oasis in the morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little short but since it's a transitional chapter I think that works. Next time: Desert Exploration! Moldugas and Great Fairies and bitching about sand!


End file.
